The Planet's Enemy: Chapter 9
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ff7_fanfictionTitle: The Planet's Enemy
Author: Ebonrune
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Possible swears and violence
Disclaimer: I of course, do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the compilation. That pleasure belongs to Square-Enix.
Status: Complete
Summary: It's been half a year since Omega was sent back to its rest and everyone has moved on with their lives. As Cloud and his friends soon discover however, the past refuses to remain buried.
Author's Notes: This story occurs post Dirge of Cerberus and makes references to it, as well as Crisis Core, the original Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children Complete, and Before Crisis--a game released on cellphones only in Japan. As well, I've chosen to use the fan names (according to the Final Fantasy wiki) for Cloud's various swords, since they don't have official names and 'Tsurugi' is Japanese for 'sword'. As the swords are not labeled which is which on the wiki, here's the picture for your reference.
Prequel: Ties of Friendship
Chapter Links: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen
The light flicked on, causing Vincent to have to squint.
"Thought I might find you here!" Cid crowed in victory before stepping into the storage room. "For claiming you aren't a goddamn vampire, you sure do like the dark."
Vincent gave a grunt and dislodged himself from where he'd been seated between two empty storage crates. "I see better in the dark than you do." He replied, taking a seat on one. "Dark for you is not so dark for me."
"Heh. Fair enough." Cid stepped over to sit on another crate nearby. "But you're still hiding away, Vince. You've gone and reverted and I admit it's got me concerned."
Vincent tilted his head to let his hair fall across an eye and regarded Cid with the other. ".....I appreciate that you are all concerned for me." He said after a few moments. "But bombarding me with concern and questions is doing the opposite of making me feel better."
"Well hiding away in the dark sure isn't helping you much either." Cid pointed out. "So you've just gotta be patient. You waited thirty something goddamn years to pop off Hojo, so wait a few days more and we'll pop off these sons of bitches too!"
Vincent regarded Cid in silence for nearly a minute before he spoke again. For others, such a long stretch of silence would be uncomfortable, but Cid had been around Vincent often enough to know to wait them out. Finally, Vincent gave a heavy sigh and averted his gaze.
"Yes," He said. "of course you're right."
Cid gave a heavy sigh and sat back on his box. "Goddamn emo." He half-muttered. "Do you think Lucrecia would want you wallowing in self-pity?"
Vincent gave another heavy sigh, softer than the last and he looked back at his friend from the corner of his eyes. "Anyone else referring to me as 'emo' would soon be making intimate relations with my gauntlet, you realize."
Cid gave a snort. "You are a goddamn emo! Lookit you, hiding away in the dark, going on and on about things you can't help." He leaned forward slightly. "You and Cloud, you both hang on to things too goddamn long!"
"Says the man who verbally abused for years the woman he's now married to because she prevented him from going into space." Vincent pointed out.
Cid sat back again, shaking his head slightly. "Okay, good point." He agreed. "Won't deny I was an asshole and don't deserve Shera, but I'm making up for that. You though." He pointed at Vincent. "You go on about stuff already done! You made mistakes, but you've gotta move on or you'll just be stuck in a goddamn rut!"
Vincent shut his eyes, pulling up the memory of a short conversation he'd had with Reeve a while ago. He'd told Reeve then he'd just been a stone in the river of time, but that his friends had shown him he had to move ahead. He'd told Reeve that, but now Cid was making him realize that he had again become that stone. If he didn't change that, he wouldn't be any good to anyone.
"Cid." He opened his eyes and straightened up to look at him fully. "You're right. Lucrecia wouldn't want me to dwell on this. She saved my life all those years ago, and I'm giving her poor repayment now....I can't make up for failing her, but I can at least try to stop more death."
"Hm, well it's a start at least." Cid stood up and clapped a hand on Vincent's shoulder. "When this is all done, we'll have to go celebrating."
"Hm." Vincent offered a faint flicker of a smile. "Save your drunken antics for after your new baby is born. That is worth more celebration."
"Can't deny that, I guess." Cid gave his friend's shoulder a squeeze and stepped away. "Don't keep holing up, Vince. You miss out on things by being such a goddamn recluse!" He turned to leave on that note, feeling in a bit of a better mood than he'd started with. One less person to worry about.
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Cloud opened his eyes to stark white.
He stared blankly for several moments before he slowly cast his eyes around and moved to sit up. He appeared to be situated on a bed, the same bleached white as the walls and ceiling. His clothing too was that same white. The lack of color was almost painful and he rubbed his eyes before taking a second look around, his eyes desperately seeking a break in the sterility and finding it in a black and silver blob that he couldn't immediately make sense of until it moved and green, slit pupiled eyes focused on him.
"Sephiroth?" He questioned in confusion.
Sephiroth's lip quirked up in a sardonic smile and he spread out his right leg, drawing the left up to his chest and resting his arm on it. "Cloud." He responded calmly.
Cloud rose off the bed and did a slow circle, looking at the featureless room. "Where are we? And how are we anywhere?!"
Sephiroth gave a mirthless chuckle, his eyes emerald ice. "You're intruding on my part of your mind."
Cloud turned to face him. ".....What?"
"Hmph." Sephiroth flicked his wrist and Cloud's clothing morphed into the modified SOLDIER uniform he had worn while tracking Sephiroth across the Planet and then into his Infantry uniform. "Ah. That's better."
Cloud looked down at himself, and then at Sephiroth. "Are you done?!" He asked acidly. "Or are you going to make me look sixteen next? And anyway," He continued, raising his voice when Sephiroth started laughing. "what do you mean intruding?!"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Sephiroth stated, still amused by Cloud's irritation. "I had to reside somewhere, and this is what came of it."
"Fantastic...." Cloud tugged at the green collar and gave a soft but irritated sigh, wishing he could figure out how Sephiroth had put him in the uniform so he could take himself out of it. "And now I'm stuck in here, I suppose?"
"Fortunately no." Sephiroth made a sweeping gesture toward the far wall and a brown, wooden door appeared. "Leave through that, and it should put you right back where you should be."
".....Good." Cloud headed toward it, but then he paused and put a hand to his chest. "Wait....what happened to me? The last thing I remember, Genesis...."
"Ah yes." Sephiroth said in a conversational tone. "You should probably buy a new Phoenix Down or two and pre-cast it. I helped you this time, but the next time I might not be so generous in reviving you."
Cloud slowly turned back to look at him, expression carefully blank. "You used a Phoenix Down on me." He said, each word coming out measured.
"That's right."
Cloud considered that, then softly exhaled. "What then? I don't remember anything."
"You wouldn't." Sephiroth smoothly got to his feet. "You ended up in here, and I fought Genesis." He gave a very nasty smile then. "You do have my cells, after all."
Cloud couldn't quite suppress the shudder, but then he shook his head. "Were you able to defeat him?"
Sephiroth's smile faded into an irritated frown. "No. He ran with his metaphorical tail between his legs." He paused, and then began to slowly pace. "He said some rather interesting things, I admit. Insisting you and your friends are terrorists. He almost seemed to be confused when I pointed out who's side I would be on if I was currently following Mother's wishes."
"Jenova's not your mother." Cloud said in irritation before he quickly switched back to the topic at hand. "So what are you saying, exactly?"
"What I'm saying," Sephiroth continued to slowly pace from the wall to the bed and back again. "is that if his shows of emotion and accusations weren't mere theatrics, he has no idea what's really going on. Although." He stopped and did a military turn to face Cloud. "Considering the things he's done before, I highly doubt he's innocent."
"Like would know like, wouldn't it?"
"I, Strife, have very little in common with Genesis." Sephiroth began pacing again. "He was always the jealous imitator, the unwelcome tagalong. I put up with him because he was Angeal's childhood companion. He should never have left Third Class. He was too unstable, but he was also too strong and Angeal deserved to be First....jealous brat that Genesis was....." He paused briefly, then continued with fervor. "If not for Angeal, I would have had that idiot expelled from SOLDIER entirely. He had no place among us."
Cloud watched him pace, noting the clear agitation. Hit a nerve, did I? "Let's assume for a minute that he wasn't trying to confuse me, that he felt his accusations about AVALANCHE were genuine. If that's true, he could make a valuable ally. He could help us stop Weiss."
"Don't be daft, Strife!" Sephiroth shot him an annoyed glance, then continued pacing. "Genesis is a traitor, and he seemed more than willing to destroy the world before--admittedly far less successfully--but regardless."
Cloud huffed out a breath. Well, calling me by my last name is better than calling me 'puppet'. He had to admit, even though it was starting to grate his nerves. "Like knows like." He said again. "And this isn't Shinra. I'll talk to Zack and Angeal, ask them about Genesis. If nothing else, they might be able to help puzzle out what he's up to."
Sephiroth glanced at him again and stopped pacing. He looked around the featureless room, expression slowly morphing into hate. Whatever thought process had started, it didn't seem like it would end well.
Cloud eyed him warily. I need to remember....no matter how sane he might act at moments, he's not. "Sephiroth." He was ignored. "Sephiroth!" The walls started shaking.
Cloud grit his teeth, his head starting to feel like someone had put it in a pressure vice. Whatever Sephiroth was doing, it was starting to hurt and had to be stopped.
He nervously fiddled with the collar of the Infantry uniform, but then paused. Yes....maybe that was the answer.
"General Sephiroth!"
The walls stopped shaking and Sephiroth fixed those unnatural cat-slit eyes on him. His expression was borderline hostile, but at least the pressure was easing back up.
Cloud stared at him, surprised that it had actually worked. He quickly regained his composure however and straightened up. "I'll talk to Zack and Angeal about Genesis." He said again, not sure if Sephiroth had registered his previous words. He half turned to go, but then turned back when something abruptly occurred to him.
"Sephiroth..." He said slowly. "What is this place to you?"
Calm once more, Sephiroth arched a pale brow at the blond. "This?" He gave a contemptful gesture to their surroundings. "This is where I spent the first fifteen years of my life."
Cloud stared at him for several moments in surprise before taking a slow look around the room again. The starched white surroundings practically oozed 'sterile'. If Sephiroth hadn't over-simplified things, then this was really all there had been.
There was the bed, simple and straight without a blanket and a raised part at one end of the mattress presumably meant to serve as a place to rest ones head. Near it was a small dresser where clothing would likely have been stored and a door in the back wall that Cloud guessed was probably a closet even though it looked more like the door to another room. Everything was the same color, with no variation in hue whatsoever. Though the room had space for far more things, that was all there was.
Cloud's eyes slid back to Sephiroth, who was watching him impassively. "This....was all? And it was....all the same color....?"
"Oh yes." Sephiroth's tone held the slightest hint of contempt and hatred, though his expression itself seemed to be calm. "Everything was white, right down to my clothing. I suppose Hojo wanted everything to match my hair as best as it could." His lip curled. "For fifteen years, this and the lab. The lab and this. The entirety of my world. Books were all that told me of the outside, of what other, normal, ordinary people got to experience." He started to pace. "But not I. I was special. I was meant for greater things. My potential unimaginable, and yet still a disappointment." The bed exploded into nothing, then promptly re-formed itself. The dresser did the same thing. "SOLDIER finally allowed for some normalcy, a life outside these walls. And friends, kindred." He gave a broken laugh. "How Hojo hated Angeal and Genesis! He called them 'throwbacks', though I couldn't understand why at the time." He stopped pacing to put a hand to his face and laugh more. "That arrogant fool."
I am so sorry I asked. Cloud felt a bit like trapped prey, afraid to move and get Sephiroth's attention. Still, though this information was coming to him from the mouth of an unhinged man, it gave Cloud an insight into why Sephiroth had never seemed comfortable around most people and why people said he was aloof. Cloud had thought he'd had a bad childhood, but it had been nothing compared to the man he'd onced idolized.
Sephiroth abruptly fell silent and looked at Cloud intently. ".....It's time for you to go, Strife." The room seemed to tilt and Cloud found himself falling, plummeting through the wooden door that swung open for him into black.
He woke up on his stomach, neck twisted uncomfortably to the side and with a buzzing in his pocket he realized moments later was his cellphone. He sat up unsteadily and reached down to pull it out of his pocket and answer it.
"Cloud!" Cid's voice came through the other end, irritated. "Where the hell've you been?! I've been calling you for the past five minutes!"
".....Sorry." Cloud intoned. "Did something happen?" Did Genesis attack his friends, or maybe the village?
"You're damn right something happened! Shera's gone into labor!"
Relief flowed through Cloud, followed by a different kind of trepidation. "Flying back to Rocket Town, then?"
"Damn straight. I'll come back for you when I can."
".....Right. You've taken the others?"
"Yeah, 'cept for that friend of yours and his buddy."
"Alright." Cloud moved to get to his feet, stifling a groan when stiff muscles protested. "I'll see you sometime tomorrow then." He paused briefly. "Congratulations, Cid."
"Haw. Don't congratulate me, Shera did most of the work. 'Sides, my brat ain't born yet."
"I'm eager to hear if it's a boy or a girl." Cloud began walking slowly back and forth to limber up again. "If it's the middle of the night, send me a text about it."
"I will." There was excitement and worry creeping into the grizzled pilot's voice, though he hung up the phone before anything more could be said. Cloud tucked his cell away and continued his slow pacing, rolling his neck and rubbing it to get it to loosen it up too.
He didn't remember ever feeling like this other times that Phoenix Downs had been used on him, but maybe it had more to do with having been lying on the cold ground for who knew how long rather than having been resurrected.
It took several minutes for him to feel steady on his feet again, and once he did he turned himself toward the town to go locate Zack's house. It was the only place he could go now, after all.
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Zack couldn't deny that he was happy to see his parents again, happy to see Cissnei so ingrained in Gongagan life and a part of his family. Couldn't deny his elation at being taken to the chocobo field to see the chicobos that had recently hatched.
But he also couldn't deny his worry for Angeal.
He sat at the dinner table now, regaling his parents and Cissnei with SOLDIER antics and pranks. His tone was enthusiastic, his gestures broad. Though he spoke with great zeal however, he felt like he was sitting outside himself, hearing someone else tell these stories with his voice and body. His parents didn't seem to notice this detachment, but from the look in Cissnei's eyes--even as she giggled at his stories--told Zack very clearly that the young Turk wasn't fooled. Even if she hadn't seen Genesis, even if she hadn't seen Angeal fly off, she still knew he'd been standing with Zack. Once dinner was through--Zack hadn't eaten very much of it, though he'd blown that off by saying he'd had a late lunch--she pulled him outside.
"Zack." She said softly, tugging him out of the house and around to the clothesline. "What happened? Where did Angeal go?"
Zack wilted immediately and looked off toward the graveyard he'd earlier said he would be visiting. After a few moments of silence, he gave a heavy sigh.
"Genesis." He began and paused briefly when he heard her intake of breath. He gave her a few moments, and then continued. "He was here, and he flew right over Angeal and I. Angeal took off after him...."
Her hand lightly touched his arm and he slowly turned his head to look at her, his dull blue meeting her concerned brown.
"Zack." She said softly, tightening her fingers on his bicep while continuing to make eye contact. "Don't let this destroy you. I haven't forgotten how you were after Modeoheim....I don't want you to end up like that again."
Zack hissed lowly through his teeth, giving his arm a shake to dislodge her hand before he reached back for the Buster sword. His parents were wary of it, uncertain of its size, but they hadn't asked him to do anything more than take it off when he sat at the table. He pulled it into full view now and pressed his forehead against it for several moments, collecting his focus just as Angeal had seemingly used it for the same purpose. He took several slow deep breaths with his skin pressed to the cold steel before he straightened up.
"This." He held the sword up one-handed. "This represents his honor, and he wouldn't accept it back when I offered it to him." He lowered the blade down until it lightly touched the grass and he lowered his head to continue looking at it. "He doesn't have a weapon, Cissnei. What if he chased Genesis to fight him?" His voice hitched. "He just came back....I can't....I can't lose...."
Cissnei looked at him silently. She didn't know what to say, or if there was anything she could say. "How is he back?" She asked instead, voice barely above a whisper as if to give Zack a chance to pretend he hadn't heard her. It was perhaps not the best question to be asking right then, but with Zack and Angeal clones, she had to wonder what was going on. "And you mentioned Aerith? How did she--"
"Aerith's dead." Zack cut in bitterly. He put the sword on his back again and turned completely away from Cissnei to fix his eyes on the middle distance. "And as for Angeal...a piece of a Cetra relic did that trick." Not bothering to mention that the same relic in its original state had been the catalyst for his own revival.
Cissnei frowned. "Aerith's dead....a Cetra relic....and Genesis is flying around. Zack, I think you'll have to start at the beginning. There's a lot I don't understand."
Zack shook his head. "The story's too long, and I wasn't around for all of it." He loosely crossed his arms and shifted his eyes to look off in the direction the Squall had been parked just outside the village. "Where's Cloud?" He muttered then. "Where are the others? It's been at least two hours now....they didn't strand me here, did they?"
"I'm sure they wouldn't do that." Cissnei tried to sound reassuring, but Zack didn't seem convinced. She stepped forward to put a hand on his arm again.
"Come on." She coaxed. "Fife made pie earlier, we should go have some before your father eats it all."
Zack looked at her wearily, but then he sighed and attempted a smile that didn't manage to reach his eyes and so fizzled out quickly. "Sorry I'm being such a downer." He half-muttered, averting his gaze again. "I've got a lot on my mind."
"Your poor brain is gonna pop out and run for the hills if you keep thinking so hard." Cissnei lightly teased. When he didn't even react, she gave a heavy sigh and tugged on his arm. "Come on, Zack. Let's go have some dessert."
"I'm not really in the mood..."
Oh for--! Cissnei made an exasperated noise and tugged harder, even though she had no hope of budging him. After further attempts to get him to move failed, she gave up and gave his arm a half-hearted swat.
"Fine." She said, planting her hands on her hips. "If you insist on being like this, then maybe you should tell me about recent events. I think I have a right to know what Genesis is up to at the very least!"
In this she had a point and Zack looked up at the sky for inspiration. "We don't know what he's doing," He began after a few moments. "but we know it's definitely not good. He and Weiss have already....Cissnei?" He belatedly registered a sharp intake of breath and looked at her, then frowned.
Cissnei was staring at him, her eyes seemingly as wide as they could get with pupils so large her eyes looked black instead of hazel. Her hands had both flown up to cover her mouth as well and she seemed to have lost all color to her face.
"Cissnei...?" His puzzled frown abruptly grew deeper and his eyes narrowed. "That means something to you." He said warily. "You know who Weiss is."
"I-I've only heard of him." She stammered shakily. "But he's the leader of the Tsviets....." She groaned. "Oh Zack....him and the other Tsviets....they have his cells! Genesis's cells!" She slowly lowered her hands, expression still fearful. "But it's just Weiss? Weiss and Genesis?"
"And Genesis copies." Zack was looking at her intently. "What do you know about Weiss? And why would he have Genesis cells? Genesis was considered a failure."
She shook her head, pressing the palms of her hands into her eyes. "I don't know....I'm only repeating what I heard....
Zack grabbed her upper arms and shook her. "Well, what did you hear, then?!" He let go of her just as suddenly as he'd grabbed her and turned away, shifting his weight from foot to foot and gripping his own upper arms. "Cloud said Vincent knows about Deepground, but the guy hasn't really said all that much!"
".....I don't know very much." Cissnei began slowly. Deepground's existence was top secret, but considering that Zack's friends already knew about it, the whole point seemed somewhat moot. "But do you remember hearing about SOLDIER Unit Thirteen, Ragnarok?"
"Yeah..." Zack said slowly. "They were lost on some mission, right?"
"Technically that's true." Cissnei agreed. "The mission they were sent on though was to Deepground, and it was intended to fail." She nodded slightly to his shocked expression. "President Shinra was very ruthless. He even had recruits from SOLDIER and war conscripts sent down there."
"War....conscripts....." Zack said slowly. "But the only war fought since SOLDIER was established was....it was Wutai...." He gave a shudder as color drained from his face.
Cissnei put a hand on his arm and circled around to look up at him. "Zack, listen. I don't know all that went down there, there's no way I could....but from what I heard, ideas like 'morality' and 'compassion' didn't exist. Men, women and children....all were subjected to experiments worse than anyone except maybe Hojo could have possibly come up with. You won't be able to reason with Weiss."
"Yeah....I don't really want to, anyway." But what about Genesis? What about Angeal? He didn't want to think any more and he shook his head with a groan.
"Zack?"
Zack and Cissnei looked over as Cloud stepped out of the darkness into the pool of light given off by the house. Zack offered his friend a slight smile.
"Hey, man." He greeted him half-heartedly. "Where you--oh hey, you okay?" Zack's expression turned concerned. "You look like hell."
"Hm?" Cloud looked down at himself and the dirt and blood on his clothing. "Oh....no, I'm fine." He made an attempt to brush himself off, but then he looked up at Zack. "I do need to talk to you and Angeal though."
"Oh....well...." Zack sagged a bit. "You'll have to take a rain check on Angeal.....Genesis flew by, and he took off after him...."
".....You said we could trust him, Zack." Cloud said quietly.
"We--he--Angeal wouldn't--!" Zack turned away, fingers digging into his hair. "He has too much honor, he won't side with them! No way would he side with them!" He made a cut off motion with his arm. "No way!"
Cloud frowned, bothered by his friend's adamant denial. "Zack...." He said slowly. "Genesis thinks we're AVALANCHE. If he can convince Angeal of that...."
Zack turned to look at him, his expression so bitter and hostile that Cloud took a step back in surprise. The blond couldn't remember ever seeing him wear such an expression and he felt a flicker of doubt that 'you can't clone a soul' was really true.
"But you were, weren't you?" Zack said softly, turning fully to face his friend, arms dropping to his sides. His eyes were narrowed and glowing softly. "You said 'we're not AVALANCHE anymore' at Aerith's resting place. If I have to fight Angeal again because he thinks he was sided with terrorists, who's to say he's even wrong?"
Cissnei silently backed away, keeping her eyes on both men while Cloud's mouth dropped open, staring at Zack in absolute shock. Zack didn't get angry, Zack didn't get accusatory, Zack didn't act like this!
"W-We...." Cloud backed up another step, not having a single clue how to deal with this uncharacteristic hostility.
"Do you remember AVALANCHE, Cloud?" Sephiroth suddenly spoke up, voice low and purring, clearly amused by the situation unfolding. "Zack only knew the first AVALANCHE. The one who experimented on their own and others, who would have destroyed the Planet themselves thanks to that insane scientist they'd had on their payroll. The one who made the Ravens, who tried to have Professor Rayleigh kidnapped. Do you remember now, Cloud?"
Cloud did remember. He'd been assigned as a bodyguard to the woman along with a couple of others, including a member of the Turks who's face and gender he couldn't recall. His fellow Infantrymen were killed by a Raven before the Turk killed them and Professor Rayleigh had been taken by another Raven while he and that Turk were dealing with the first one. They'd managed to rescue her, but lost the valuable data on SOLDIER that she had been transporting.
Cloud groaned, bringing his hands up to his face as he felt pressure growing in his head. Memories long buried were being forced to the surface by Sephiroth, reliving that terrible beginning to his career, nearly losing the person he'd been assigned to protect and still losing the data she'd been protecting. "....We weren't that AVALANCHE...." He panted out, doing his best to concentrate around the surfacing memories. "We didn't have a scientist.....Jessie was good with technology, Wedge ate a lot, and....and I think Biggs was good at disguises...." He grit his teeth. "Then there was Barret, Tifa and I.....no scientist.....no Ravens...." Why was Sephiroth making him remember all of this?!
Seeing Cloud in pain cooled Zack's temper somewhat and his tense posture relaxed a bit. ".....Of course not...." He said softly. "Aerith wouldn't have helped you if you were like that...." He began to look a bit ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, Cloud." He spread his hands out. "I'm scared....you're right, if Genesis can convince Angeal, then we're in trouble."
"Mmn...." Finally the deluge was abating and Cloud was able to straighten up again and move his hands. "We're World Regenesis Organization now, Zack. Shinra was destroyed by Meteor, and for some reason Rufus seems content to let Khymera Corporation take over his company's job. The WRO is helping to clean up the mess Shinra left behind....we're not terrorists."
"Mm...." Zack nodded. "So, you ran into Genesis, then? What else did he say besides accusing you of being AVALANCHE?"
Cloud slowly crossed his arms, squinting a bit against the residual pain behind his eyes. "He talked about a WEAPON--I think he must have meant Chaos--and he thought I was SOLDIER too...."
"So, you're not?" Cissnei spoke up, drawing their attention.
Both Zack and Cloud shook their heads. "Hojo experimented on me." Cloud told her. "I have the mako and the strength....but not the training." He uncrossed his arms again to massage the bridge of his nose. "Zack, could your family put me up for the night? Cid's wife is giving birth and he's rushing home to be with her. He took the others with him, but didn't have time to get me."
Zack blinked, then nodded slightly. "I think we've still got the pull out couch, you can crash on that." He looked Cloud up and down. "Probably got some old clothes that would fit you, too. You need to shower."
"With all the times I've been getting wet lately, you'd think I would be cleaner than this." Cloud commented dryly before nodding and following Zack when the taller man turned to lead him inside.
Cissnei watched them go, remaining where she was with a pensive frown on her face. She had a lot to consider, including the career she'd left behind after Zack's reported death and her failure to save him. Her reason for leaving was moot now, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be a Turk anymore.
Then there was the re-emergence of Genesis and his teaming up with the leader of Deepground. This was developing into a serious situation. No matter what she decided, the entire world was in danger if Deepground had gone rogue. She couldn't make any decision lightly.
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Angeal was having second thoughts about this.
It hadn't taken him very long to catch up to Genesis and it had taken even less time to drive him to the ground like a hawk harassing a crow. Other than an inital exclamation of surprise, Genesis had been surprisingly silent and Angeal very much had the feeling that Genesis had let him drive him down.
They'd been in a stalemate for several minutes now, staring at each other with only their eyes and the light of the half covered moon for light. Genesis had a sword and presumedly materia, and Angeal had his size. It was fairly obvious that Genesis had the upper hand, yet he didn't take advantage of it.
"Angeal." Genesis finally intoned. "You shouldn't be here."
"And you shouldn't be doing this, Genesis." Angeal responded. "You have--"
"No." Genesis shook his head. "You shouldn't be alive. Zack murdered you."
"....I would prefer to call it assisted suicide." Angeal flexed his wing slightly. "But as it would seem....this isn't my original body."
".....Then this is the clone body." Genesis frowned and then started pacing. "That means they found the tanks in Reactor 0. Damnit!" His own wing gave an irritated snap, and then he stopped pacing to turn to Angeal. "Weiss assured me it was a safe location!" He paused, then smiled. "But you're alive, and that's what's most important. So. What have they told you?"
Angeal sighed softly and crossed his arms. "That you've already killed at least one person, nearly killed someone else and....nothing else relevant." Which was to say, not much.
"Then you don't even know who you're with..." Genesis looked relieved for a moment, before he straightened up to his full height. "Angeal, they're AVALANCHE. They're apparently calling themselves WRO now and I don't know what that stands for--"
"World Regenesis Organization." Angeal interrupted. "It stands for World Regenesis Organization."
Genesis stared for a moment, then made a dismissive gesture. "That's not particularly important. Anyway. The woman Lucrecia was killed by Weiss, but....she deserved to die." His eyes glittered. "She'd helped in the Jenova project, my friend. She was Sephiroth's mother. And as for the other one....Vincent Valentine, the bastard Turk who harbored the WEAPON, Chaos. The 'WRO' was going to use him to destroy this world."
Angeal was frowning deeply, listening to Genesis. He didn't know much about Cloud's group, that was true. However, some things weren't adding up.
Even if everything he'd been told was a lie--which unless Cloud had been telling it several times had come out in a way that had sounded too natural to have been thought up on the spot--there was one, indisputable fact.
"If they're AVALANCHE as you say, then why would they be working alongside the Turks?" Angeal questioned.
Genesis blinked in surprise, and then frowned. "There were rumors Rufus Shinra was funding AVALANCHE." He said slowly. "And Weiss told me he runs the company now, so maybe that's what it is."
"Why would he fund a terrorist organization?!" Angeal shook his head. "They were trying to destroy Shinra, that wouldn't make any sense. And neither would giving support in public." Although, Cloud had mentioned another company; Khymera Corporation. Shinra Electric wouldn't like another company taking over their market, would they?
He frowned however and when Genesis started to talk again, he held his hand up for silence. No, this wasn't adding up at all. He hadn't been with them for very long, but they didn't act like a terrorist organization. They were too out in the open and their only objective seemed to be catching up to Genesis and Weiss. He hadn't been given too much information as to why besides one murder and one attempted, but they had dropped off at Gongaga to let Zack see his family and the next day they were apparently going to the Gold Saucer so Cloud could sell some chocobos. It just didn't work with what Genesis was telling him.
"What has Weiss told you?" He asked at last.
Genesis sighed. "AVALANCHE wants to destroy the world to save it. Only when it's purged of all 'contamination' will the Planet heal. They were probably going to use the proto-WEAPON that was residing in Valentine to do that."
That did sound like AVALANCHE, Angeal had to admit. "That's all?"
"He also wants to revive his brother, who'd been killed by Valentine." Genesis gave a slight shrug.
Angeal nodded slightly. "....Genesis. You were degrading the last time I saw you. How did you find a cure?"
"Ah, yes. That." Genesis smiled and raised his arms, wing half-spreading as well. "The Goddess deemed me worthy. She cured me, and so I serve her will and the Planet."
Oh good, Genesis had lost what was left of his marbles. "....I see." Angeal said simply.
Genesis smirked slightly and lowered his arms. "There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess. Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds." He put a hand to his own chest. "I will heal this world, I will protect it."
Angeal looked at him in silence for several moments.
"Genesis..." He said at last, slowly. "I think you might have been misinformed."
"At least I've been informed." Genesis replied. "They told you next to nothing!"
Again Angeal had to admit that his childhood friend had a point and he nodded slightly in acknowledgment. "Then let's find out together." He said. "Come back with me. Zack seemed to have a better idea of what was going on....perhaps he can tell us." Zack was the reason he was reluctant to leave Cloud's group.
"Hmph. So the owner is loyal to the puppy? Not too much of a surprise, I suppose." Genesis shook his head. "Fine, I'll humor you. But only Zack." He paused, and then his smile turned nasty. "Oh, Angeal? Did you know Sephiroth has possession of the spiky-haired blond?"
"......What....?"
"Oh, yes." Genesis started pacing. "I killed him, but Sephiroth took over and revived the body...then he took his own form." Genesis paused, frowning thoughtfully. "Though, come to think of it....he also claimed I was on the wrong side...."
".....Maybe that's a clue." Angeal said dryly to hide his shock. Cloud had told him Sephiroth had been killed, but he hadn't mentioned anything about the other man existing in his head!
But earlier on the airship he got flustered when I asked about Sephiroth. Angeal scowled a bit, then sighed. He'd worry about it later, when he had the leisure to talk to Cloud about it.
"We'll fly back in the morning." Genesis spoke up, glancing at the sky. "It's gotten far too dark to find our way back to Gongaga."
"....Alright." Angeal agreed reluctantly and tucked his wing away, watching Genesis do the same. They were SOLDIER and sleeping on the ground wasn't an imposition for them. What Angeal had trepidation about was bedding down with Genesis nearby.
He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting much sleep.
Author: Ebonrune
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Possible swears and violence
Disclaimer: I of course, do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the compilation. That pleasure belongs to Square-Enix.
Status: Complete
Summary: It's been half a year since Omega was sent back to its rest and everyone has moved on with their lives. As Cloud and his friends soon discover however, the past refuses to remain buried.
Author's Notes: This story occurs post Dirge of Cerberus and makes references to it, as well as Crisis Core, the original Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children Complete, and Before Crisis--a game released on cellphones only in Japan. As well, I've chosen to use the fan names (according to the Final Fantasy wiki) for Cloud's various swords, since they don't have official names and 'Tsurugi' is Japanese for 'sword'. As the swords are not labeled which is which on the wiki, here's the picture for your reference.
Prequel: Ties of Friendship
Chapter Links: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen
The light flicked on, causing Vincent to have to squint.
"Thought I might find you here!" Cid crowed in victory before stepping into the storage room. "For claiming you aren't a goddamn vampire, you sure do like the dark."
Vincent gave a grunt and dislodged himself from where he'd been seated between two empty storage crates. "I see better in the dark than you do." He replied, taking a seat on one. "Dark for you is not so dark for me."
"Heh. Fair enough." Cid stepped over to sit on another crate nearby. "But you're still hiding away, Vince. You've gone and reverted and I admit it's got me concerned."
Vincent tilted his head to let his hair fall across an eye and regarded Cid with the other. ".....I appreciate that you are all concerned for me." He said after a few moments. "But bombarding me with concern and questions is doing the opposite of making me feel better."
"Well hiding away in the dark sure isn't helping you much either." Cid pointed out. "So you've just gotta be patient. You waited thirty something goddamn years to pop off Hojo, so wait a few days more and we'll pop off these sons of bitches too!"
Vincent regarded Cid in silence for nearly a minute before he spoke again. For others, such a long stretch of silence would be uncomfortable, but Cid had been around Vincent often enough to know to wait them out. Finally, Vincent gave a heavy sigh and averted his gaze.
"Yes," He said. "of course you're right."
Cid gave a heavy sigh and sat back on his box. "Goddamn emo." He half-muttered. "Do you think Lucrecia would want you wallowing in self-pity?"
Vincent gave another heavy sigh, softer than the last and he looked back at his friend from the corner of his eyes. "Anyone else referring to me as 'emo' would soon be making intimate relations with my gauntlet, you realize."
Cid gave a snort. "You are a goddamn emo! Lookit you, hiding away in the dark, going on and on about things you can't help." He leaned forward slightly. "You and Cloud, you both hang on to things too goddamn long!"
"Says the man who verbally abused for years the woman he's now married to because she prevented him from going into space." Vincent pointed out.
Cid sat back again, shaking his head slightly. "Okay, good point." He agreed. "Won't deny I was an asshole and don't deserve Shera, but I'm making up for that. You though." He pointed at Vincent. "You go on about stuff already done! You made mistakes, but you've gotta move on or you'll just be stuck in a goddamn rut!"
Vincent shut his eyes, pulling up the memory of a short conversation he'd had with Reeve a while ago. He'd told Reeve then he'd just been a stone in the river of time, but that his friends had shown him he had to move ahead. He'd told Reeve that, but now Cid was making him realize that he had again become that stone. If he didn't change that, he wouldn't be any good to anyone.
"Cid." He opened his eyes and straightened up to look at him fully. "You're right. Lucrecia wouldn't want me to dwell on this. She saved my life all those years ago, and I'm giving her poor repayment now....I can't make up for failing her, but I can at least try to stop more death."
"Hm, well it's a start at least." Cid stood up and clapped a hand on Vincent's shoulder. "When this is all done, we'll have to go celebrating."
"Hm." Vincent offered a faint flicker of a smile. "Save your drunken antics for after your new baby is born. That is worth more celebration."
"Can't deny that, I guess." Cid gave his friend's shoulder a squeeze and stepped away. "Don't keep holing up, Vince. You miss out on things by being such a goddamn recluse!" He turned to leave on that note, feeling in a bit of a better mood than he'd started with. One less person to worry about.
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Cloud opened his eyes to stark white.
He stared blankly for several moments before he slowly cast his eyes around and moved to sit up. He appeared to be situated on a bed, the same bleached white as the walls and ceiling. His clothing too was that same white. The lack of color was almost painful and he rubbed his eyes before taking a second look around, his eyes desperately seeking a break in the sterility and finding it in a black and silver blob that he couldn't immediately make sense of until it moved and green, slit pupiled eyes focused on him.
"Sephiroth?" He questioned in confusion.
Sephiroth's lip quirked up in a sardonic smile and he spread out his right leg, drawing the left up to his chest and resting his arm on it. "Cloud." He responded calmly.
Cloud rose off the bed and did a slow circle, looking at the featureless room. "Where are we? And how are we anywhere?!"
Sephiroth gave a mirthless chuckle, his eyes emerald ice. "You're intruding on my part of your mind."
Cloud turned to face him. ".....What?"
"Hmph." Sephiroth flicked his wrist and Cloud's clothing morphed into the modified SOLDIER uniform he had worn while tracking Sephiroth across the Planet and then into his Infantry uniform. "Ah. That's better."
Cloud looked down at himself, and then at Sephiroth. "Are you done?!" He asked acidly. "Or are you going to make me look sixteen next? And anyway," He continued, raising his voice when Sephiroth started laughing. "what do you mean intruding?!"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Sephiroth stated, still amused by Cloud's irritation. "I had to reside somewhere, and this is what came of it."
"Fantastic...." Cloud tugged at the green collar and gave a soft but irritated sigh, wishing he could figure out how Sephiroth had put him in the uniform so he could take himself out of it. "And now I'm stuck in here, I suppose?"
"Fortunately no." Sephiroth made a sweeping gesture toward the far wall and a brown, wooden door appeared. "Leave through that, and it should put you right back where you should be."
".....Good." Cloud headed toward it, but then he paused and put a hand to his chest. "Wait....what happened to me? The last thing I remember, Genesis...."
"Ah yes." Sephiroth said in a conversational tone. "You should probably buy a new Phoenix Down or two and pre-cast it. I helped you this time, but the next time I might not be so generous in reviving you."
Cloud slowly turned back to look at him, expression carefully blank. "You used a Phoenix Down on me." He said, each word coming out measured.
"That's right."
Cloud considered that, then softly exhaled. "What then? I don't remember anything."
"You wouldn't." Sephiroth smoothly got to his feet. "You ended up in here, and I fought Genesis." He gave a very nasty smile then. "You do have my cells, after all."
Cloud couldn't quite suppress the shudder, but then he shook his head. "Were you able to defeat him?"
Sephiroth's smile faded into an irritated frown. "No. He ran with his metaphorical tail between his legs." He paused, and then began to slowly pace. "He said some rather interesting things, I admit. Insisting you and your friends are terrorists. He almost seemed to be confused when I pointed out who's side I would be on if I was currently following Mother's wishes."
"Jenova's not your mother." Cloud said in irritation before he quickly switched back to the topic at hand. "So what are you saying, exactly?"
"What I'm saying," Sephiroth continued to slowly pace from the wall to the bed and back again. "is that if his shows of emotion and accusations weren't mere theatrics, he has no idea what's really going on. Although." He stopped and did a military turn to face Cloud. "Considering the things he's done before, I highly doubt he's innocent."
"Like would know like, wouldn't it?"
"I, Strife, have very little in common with Genesis." Sephiroth began pacing again. "He was always the jealous imitator, the unwelcome tagalong. I put up with him because he was Angeal's childhood companion. He should never have left Third Class. He was too unstable, but he was also too strong and Angeal deserved to be First....jealous brat that Genesis was....." He paused briefly, then continued with fervor. "If not for Angeal, I would have had that idiot expelled from SOLDIER entirely. He had no place among us."
Cloud watched him pace, noting the clear agitation. Hit a nerve, did I? "Let's assume for a minute that he wasn't trying to confuse me, that he felt his accusations about AVALANCHE were genuine. If that's true, he could make a valuable ally. He could help us stop Weiss."
"Don't be daft, Strife!" Sephiroth shot him an annoyed glance, then continued pacing. "Genesis is a traitor, and he seemed more than willing to destroy the world before--admittedly far less successfully--but regardless."
Cloud huffed out a breath. Well, calling me by my last name is better than calling me 'puppet'. He had to admit, even though it was starting to grate his nerves. "Like knows like." He said again. "And this isn't Shinra. I'll talk to Zack and Angeal, ask them about Genesis. If nothing else, they might be able to help puzzle out what he's up to."
Sephiroth glanced at him again and stopped pacing. He looked around the featureless room, expression slowly morphing into hate. Whatever thought process had started, it didn't seem like it would end well.
Cloud eyed him warily. I need to remember....no matter how sane he might act at moments, he's not. "Sephiroth." He was ignored. "Sephiroth!" The walls started shaking.
Cloud grit his teeth, his head starting to feel like someone had put it in a pressure vice. Whatever Sephiroth was doing, it was starting to hurt and had to be stopped.
He nervously fiddled with the collar of the Infantry uniform, but then paused. Yes....maybe that was the answer.
"General Sephiroth!"
The walls stopped shaking and Sephiroth fixed those unnatural cat-slit eyes on him. His expression was borderline hostile, but at least the pressure was easing back up.
Cloud stared at him, surprised that it had actually worked. He quickly regained his composure however and straightened up. "I'll talk to Zack and Angeal about Genesis." He said again, not sure if Sephiroth had registered his previous words. He half turned to go, but then turned back when something abruptly occurred to him.
"Sephiroth..." He said slowly. "What is this place to you?"
Calm once more, Sephiroth arched a pale brow at the blond. "This?" He gave a contemptful gesture to their surroundings. "This is where I spent the first fifteen years of my life."
Cloud stared at him for several moments in surprise before taking a slow look around the room again. The starched white surroundings practically oozed 'sterile'. If Sephiroth hadn't over-simplified things, then this was really all there had been.
There was the bed, simple and straight without a blanket and a raised part at one end of the mattress presumably meant to serve as a place to rest ones head. Near it was a small dresser where clothing would likely have been stored and a door in the back wall that Cloud guessed was probably a closet even though it looked more like the door to another room. Everything was the same color, with no variation in hue whatsoever. Though the room had space for far more things, that was all there was.
Cloud's eyes slid back to Sephiroth, who was watching him impassively. "This....was all? And it was....all the same color....?"
"Oh yes." Sephiroth's tone held the slightest hint of contempt and hatred, though his expression itself seemed to be calm. "Everything was white, right down to my clothing. I suppose Hojo wanted everything to match my hair as best as it could." His lip curled. "For fifteen years, this and the lab. The lab and this. The entirety of my world. Books were all that told me of the outside, of what other, normal, ordinary people got to experience." He started to pace. "But not I. I was special. I was meant for greater things. My potential unimaginable, and yet still a disappointment." The bed exploded into nothing, then promptly re-formed itself. The dresser did the same thing. "SOLDIER finally allowed for some normalcy, a life outside these walls. And friends, kindred." He gave a broken laugh. "How Hojo hated Angeal and Genesis! He called them 'throwbacks', though I couldn't understand why at the time." He stopped pacing to put a hand to his face and laugh more. "That arrogant fool."
I am so sorry I asked. Cloud felt a bit like trapped prey, afraid to move and get Sephiroth's attention. Still, though this information was coming to him from the mouth of an unhinged man, it gave Cloud an insight into why Sephiroth had never seemed comfortable around most people and why people said he was aloof. Cloud had thought he'd had a bad childhood, but it had been nothing compared to the man he'd onced idolized.
Sephiroth abruptly fell silent and looked at Cloud intently. ".....It's time for you to go, Strife." The room seemed to tilt and Cloud found himself falling, plummeting through the wooden door that swung open for him into black.
He woke up on his stomach, neck twisted uncomfortably to the side and with a buzzing in his pocket he realized moments later was his cellphone. He sat up unsteadily and reached down to pull it out of his pocket and answer it.
"Cloud!" Cid's voice came through the other end, irritated. "Where the hell've you been?! I've been calling you for the past five minutes!"
".....Sorry." Cloud intoned. "Did something happen?" Did Genesis attack his friends, or maybe the village?
"You're damn right something happened! Shera's gone into labor!"
Relief flowed through Cloud, followed by a different kind of trepidation. "Flying back to Rocket Town, then?"
"Damn straight. I'll come back for you when I can."
".....Right. You've taken the others?"
"Yeah, 'cept for that friend of yours and his buddy."
"Alright." Cloud moved to get to his feet, stifling a groan when stiff muscles protested. "I'll see you sometime tomorrow then." He paused briefly. "Congratulations, Cid."
"Haw. Don't congratulate me, Shera did most of the work. 'Sides, my brat ain't born yet."
"I'm eager to hear if it's a boy or a girl." Cloud began walking slowly back and forth to limber up again. "If it's the middle of the night, send me a text about it."
"I will." There was excitement and worry creeping into the grizzled pilot's voice, though he hung up the phone before anything more could be said. Cloud tucked his cell away and continued his slow pacing, rolling his neck and rubbing it to get it to loosen it up too.
He didn't remember ever feeling like this other times that Phoenix Downs had been used on him, but maybe it had more to do with having been lying on the cold ground for who knew how long rather than having been resurrected.
It took several minutes for him to feel steady on his feet again, and once he did he turned himself toward the town to go locate Zack's house. It was the only place he could go now, after all.
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Zack couldn't deny that he was happy to see his parents again, happy to see Cissnei so ingrained in Gongagan life and a part of his family. Couldn't deny his elation at being taken to the chocobo field to see the chicobos that had recently hatched.
But he also couldn't deny his worry for Angeal.
He sat at the dinner table now, regaling his parents and Cissnei with SOLDIER antics and pranks. His tone was enthusiastic, his gestures broad. Though he spoke with great zeal however, he felt like he was sitting outside himself, hearing someone else tell these stories with his voice and body. His parents didn't seem to notice this detachment, but from the look in Cissnei's eyes--even as she giggled at his stories--told Zack very clearly that the young Turk wasn't fooled. Even if she hadn't seen Genesis, even if she hadn't seen Angeal fly off, she still knew he'd been standing with Zack. Once dinner was through--Zack hadn't eaten very much of it, though he'd blown that off by saying he'd had a late lunch--she pulled him outside.
"Zack." She said softly, tugging him out of the house and around to the clothesline. "What happened? Where did Angeal go?"
Zack wilted immediately and looked off toward the graveyard he'd earlier said he would be visiting. After a few moments of silence, he gave a heavy sigh.
"Genesis." He began and paused briefly when he heard her intake of breath. He gave her a few moments, and then continued. "He was here, and he flew right over Angeal and I. Angeal took off after him...."
Her hand lightly touched his arm and he slowly turned his head to look at her, his dull blue meeting her concerned brown.
"Zack." She said softly, tightening her fingers on his bicep while continuing to make eye contact. "Don't let this destroy you. I haven't forgotten how you were after Modeoheim....I don't want you to end up like that again."
Zack hissed lowly through his teeth, giving his arm a shake to dislodge her hand before he reached back for the Buster sword. His parents were wary of it, uncertain of its size, but they hadn't asked him to do anything more than take it off when he sat at the table. He pulled it into full view now and pressed his forehead against it for several moments, collecting his focus just as Angeal had seemingly used it for the same purpose. He took several slow deep breaths with his skin pressed to the cold steel before he straightened up.
"This." He held the sword up one-handed. "This represents his honor, and he wouldn't accept it back when I offered it to him." He lowered the blade down until it lightly touched the grass and he lowered his head to continue looking at it. "He doesn't have a weapon, Cissnei. What if he chased Genesis to fight him?" His voice hitched. "He just came back....I can't....I can't lose...."
Cissnei looked at him silently. She didn't know what to say, or if there was anything she could say. "How is he back?" She asked instead, voice barely above a whisper as if to give Zack a chance to pretend he hadn't heard her. It was perhaps not the best question to be asking right then, but with Zack and Angeal clones, she had to wonder what was going on. "And you mentioned Aerith? How did she--"
"Aerith's dead." Zack cut in bitterly. He put the sword on his back again and turned completely away from Cissnei to fix his eyes on the middle distance. "And as for Angeal...a piece of a Cetra relic did that trick." Not bothering to mention that the same relic in its original state had been the catalyst for his own revival.
Cissnei frowned. "Aerith's dead....a Cetra relic....and Genesis is flying around. Zack, I think you'll have to start at the beginning. There's a lot I don't understand."
Zack shook his head. "The story's too long, and I wasn't around for all of it." He loosely crossed his arms and shifted his eyes to look off in the direction the Squall had been parked just outside the village. "Where's Cloud?" He muttered then. "Where are the others? It's been at least two hours now....they didn't strand me here, did they?"
"I'm sure they wouldn't do that." Cissnei tried to sound reassuring, but Zack didn't seem convinced. She stepped forward to put a hand on his arm again.
"Come on." She coaxed. "Fife made pie earlier, we should go have some before your father eats it all."
Zack looked at her wearily, but then he sighed and attempted a smile that didn't manage to reach his eyes and so fizzled out quickly. "Sorry I'm being such a downer." He half-muttered, averting his gaze again. "I've got a lot on my mind."
"Your poor brain is gonna pop out and run for the hills if you keep thinking so hard." Cissnei lightly teased. When he didn't even react, she gave a heavy sigh and tugged on his arm. "Come on, Zack. Let's go have some dessert."
"I'm not really in the mood..."
Oh for--! Cissnei made an exasperated noise and tugged harder, even though she had no hope of budging him. After further attempts to get him to move failed, she gave up and gave his arm a half-hearted swat.
"Fine." She said, planting her hands on her hips. "If you insist on being like this, then maybe you should tell me about recent events. I think I have a right to know what Genesis is up to at the very least!"
In this she had a point and Zack looked up at the sky for inspiration. "We don't know what he's doing," He began after a few moments. "but we know it's definitely not good. He and Weiss have already....Cissnei?" He belatedly registered a sharp intake of breath and looked at her, then frowned.
Cissnei was staring at him, her eyes seemingly as wide as they could get with pupils so large her eyes looked black instead of hazel. Her hands had both flown up to cover her mouth as well and she seemed to have lost all color to her face.
"Cissnei...?" His puzzled frown abruptly grew deeper and his eyes narrowed. "That means something to you." He said warily. "You know who Weiss is."
"I-I've only heard of him." She stammered shakily. "But he's the leader of the Tsviets....." She groaned. "Oh Zack....him and the other Tsviets....they have his cells! Genesis's cells!" She slowly lowered her hands, expression still fearful. "But it's just Weiss? Weiss and Genesis?"
"And Genesis copies." Zack was looking at her intently. "What do you know about Weiss? And why would he have Genesis cells? Genesis was considered a failure."
She shook her head, pressing the palms of her hands into her eyes. "I don't know....I'm only repeating what I heard....
Zack grabbed her upper arms and shook her. "Well, what did you hear, then?!" He let go of her just as suddenly as he'd grabbed her and turned away, shifting his weight from foot to foot and gripping his own upper arms. "Cloud said Vincent knows about Deepground, but the guy hasn't really said all that much!"
".....I don't know very much." Cissnei began slowly. Deepground's existence was top secret, but considering that Zack's friends already knew about it, the whole point seemed somewhat moot. "But do you remember hearing about SOLDIER Unit Thirteen, Ragnarok?"
"Yeah..." Zack said slowly. "They were lost on some mission, right?"
"Technically that's true." Cissnei agreed. "The mission they were sent on though was to Deepground, and it was intended to fail." She nodded slightly to his shocked expression. "President Shinra was very ruthless. He even had recruits from SOLDIER and war conscripts sent down there."
"War....conscripts....." Zack said slowly. "But the only war fought since SOLDIER was established was....it was Wutai...." He gave a shudder as color drained from his face.
Cissnei put a hand on his arm and circled around to look up at him. "Zack, listen. I don't know all that went down there, there's no way I could....but from what I heard, ideas like 'morality' and 'compassion' didn't exist. Men, women and children....all were subjected to experiments worse than anyone except maybe Hojo could have possibly come up with. You won't be able to reason with Weiss."
"Yeah....I don't really want to, anyway." But what about Genesis? What about Angeal? He didn't want to think any more and he shook his head with a groan.
"Zack?"
Zack and Cissnei looked over as Cloud stepped out of the darkness into the pool of light given off by the house. Zack offered his friend a slight smile.
"Hey, man." He greeted him half-heartedly. "Where you--oh hey, you okay?" Zack's expression turned concerned. "You look like hell."
"Hm?" Cloud looked down at himself and the dirt and blood on his clothing. "Oh....no, I'm fine." He made an attempt to brush himself off, but then he looked up at Zack. "I do need to talk to you and Angeal though."
"Oh....well...." Zack sagged a bit. "You'll have to take a rain check on Angeal.....Genesis flew by, and he took off after him...."
".....You said we could trust him, Zack." Cloud said quietly.
"We--he--Angeal wouldn't--!" Zack turned away, fingers digging into his hair. "He has too much honor, he won't side with them! No way would he side with them!" He made a cut off motion with his arm. "No way!"
Cloud frowned, bothered by his friend's adamant denial. "Zack...." He said slowly. "Genesis thinks we're AVALANCHE. If he can convince Angeal of that...."
Zack turned to look at him, his expression so bitter and hostile that Cloud took a step back in surprise. The blond couldn't remember ever seeing him wear such an expression and he felt a flicker of doubt that 'you can't clone a soul' was really true.
"But you were, weren't you?" Zack said softly, turning fully to face his friend, arms dropping to his sides. His eyes were narrowed and glowing softly. "You said 'we're not AVALANCHE anymore' at Aerith's resting place. If I have to fight Angeal again because he thinks he was sided with terrorists, who's to say he's even wrong?"
Cissnei silently backed away, keeping her eyes on both men while Cloud's mouth dropped open, staring at Zack in absolute shock. Zack didn't get angry, Zack didn't get accusatory, Zack didn't act like this!
"W-We...." Cloud backed up another step, not having a single clue how to deal with this uncharacteristic hostility.
"Do you remember AVALANCHE, Cloud?" Sephiroth suddenly spoke up, voice low and purring, clearly amused by the situation unfolding. "Zack only knew the first AVALANCHE. The one who experimented on their own and others, who would have destroyed the Planet themselves thanks to that insane scientist they'd had on their payroll. The one who made the Ravens, who tried to have Professor Rayleigh kidnapped. Do you remember now, Cloud?"
Cloud did remember. He'd been assigned as a bodyguard to the woman along with a couple of others, including a member of the Turks who's face and gender he couldn't recall. His fellow Infantrymen were killed by a Raven before the Turk killed them and Professor Rayleigh had been taken by another Raven while he and that Turk were dealing with the first one. They'd managed to rescue her, but lost the valuable data on SOLDIER that she had been transporting.
Cloud groaned, bringing his hands up to his face as he felt pressure growing in his head. Memories long buried were being forced to the surface by Sephiroth, reliving that terrible beginning to his career, nearly losing the person he'd been assigned to protect and still losing the data she'd been protecting. "....We weren't that AVALANCHE...." He panted out, doing his best to concentrate around the surfacing memories. "We didn't have a scientist.....Jessie was good with technology, Wedge ate a lot, and....and I think Biggs was good at disguises...." He grit his teeth. "Then there was Barret, Tifa and I.....no scientist.....no Ravens...." Why was Sephiroth making him remember all of this?!
Seeing Cloud in pain cooled Zack's temper somewhat and his tense posture relaxed a bit. ".....Of course not...." He said softly. "Aerith wouldn't have helped you if you were like that...." He began to look a bit ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, Cloud." He spread his hands out. "I'm scared....you're right, if Genesis can convince Angeal, then we're in trouble."
"Mmn...." Finally the deluge was abating and Cloud was able to straighten up again and move his hands. "We're World Regenesis Organization now, Zack. Shinra was destroyed by Meteor, and for some reason Rufus seems content to let Khymera Corporation take over his company's job. The WRO is helping to clean up the mess Shinra left behind....we're not terrorists."
"Mm...." Zack nodded. "So, you ran into Genesis, then? What else did he say besides accusing you of being AVALANCHE?"
Cloud slowly crossed his arms, squinting a bit against the residual pain behind his eyes. "He talked about a WEAPON--I think he must have meant Chaos--and he thought I was SOLDIER too...."
"So, you're not?" Cissnei spoke up, drawing their attention.
Both Zack and Cloud shook their heads. "Hojo experimented on me." Cloud told her. "I have the mako and the strength....but not the training." He uncrossed his arms again to massage the bridge of his nose. "Zack, could your family put me up for the night? Cid's wife is giving birth and he's rushing home to be with her. He took the others with him, but didn't have time to get me."
Zack blinked, then nodded slightly. "I think we've still got the pull out couch, you can crash on that." He looked Cloud up and down. "Probably got some old clothes that would fit you, too. You need to shower."
"With all the times I've been getting wet lately, you'd think I would be cleaner than this." Cloud commented dryly before nodding and following Zack when the taller man turned to lead him inside.
Cissnei watched them go, remaining where she was with a pensive frown on her face. She had a lot to consider, including the career she'd left behind after Zack's reported death and her failure to save him. Her reason for leaving was moot now, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be a Turk anymore.
Then there was the re-emergence of Genesis and his teaming up with the leader of Deepground. This was developing into a serious situation. No matter what she decided, the entire world was in danger if Deepground had gone rogue. She couldn't make any decision lightly.
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Angeal was having second thoughts about this.
It hadn't taken him very long to catch up to Genesis and it had taken even less time to drive him to the ground like a hawk harassing a crow. Other than an inital exclamation of surprise, Genesis had been surprisingly silent and Angeal very much had the feeling that Genesis had let him drive him down.
They'd been in a stalemate for several minutes now, staring at each other with only their eyes and the light of the half covered moon for light. Genesis had a sword and presumedly materia, and Angeal had his size. It was fairly obvious that Genesis had the upper hand, yet he didn't take advantage of it.
"Angeal." Genesis finally intoned. "You shouldn't be here."
"And you shouldn't be doing this, Genesis." Angeal responded. "You have--"
"No." Genesis shook his head. "You shouldn't be alive. Zack murdered you."
"....I would prefer to call it assisted suicide." Angeal flexed his wing slightly. "But as it would seem....this isn't my original body."
".....Then this is the clone body." Genesis frowned and then started pacing. "That means they found the tanks in Reactor 0. Damnit!" His own wing gave an irritated snap, and then he stopped pacing to turn to Angeal. "Weiss assured me it was a safe location!" He paused, then smiled. "But you're alive, and that's what's most important. So. What have they told you?"
Angeal sighed softly and crossed his arms. "That you've already killed at least one person, nearly killed someone else and....nothing else relevant." Which was to say, not much.
"Then you don't even know who you're with..." Genesis looked relieved for a moment, before he straightened up to his full height. "Angeal, they're AVALANCHE. They're apparently calling themselves WRO now and I don't know what that stands for--"
"World Regenesis Organization." Angeal interrupted. "It stands for World Regenesis Organization."
Genesis stared for a moment, then made a dismissive gesture. "That's not particularly important. Anyway. The woman Lucrecia was killed by Weiss, but....she deserved to die." His eyes glittered. "She'd helped in the Jenova project, my friend. She was Sephiroth's mother. And as for the other one....Vincent Valentine, the bastard Turk who harbored the WEAPON, Chaos. The 'WRO' was going to use him to destroy this world."
Angeal was frowning deeply, listening to Genesis. He didn't know much about Cloud's group, that was true. However, some things weren't adding up.
Even if everything he'd been told was a lie--which unless Cloud had been telling it several times had come out in a way that had sounded too natural to have been thought up on the spot--there was one, indisputable fact.
"If they're AVALANCHE as you say, then why would they be working alongside the Turks?" Angeal questioned.
Genesis blinked in surprise, and then frowned. "There were rumors Rufus Shinra was funding AVALANCHE." He said slowly. "And Weiss told me he runs the company now, so maybe that's what it is."
"Why would he fund a terrorist organization?!" Angeal shook his head. "They were trying to destroy Shinra, that wouldn't make any sense. And neither would giving support in public." Although, Cloud had mentioned another company; Khymera Corporation. Shinra Electric wouldn't like another company taking over their market, would they?
He frowned however and when Genesis started to talk again, he held his hand up for silence. No, this wasn't adding up at all. He hadn't been with them for very long, but they didn't act like a terrorist organization. They were too out in the open and their only objective seemed to be catching up to Genesis and Weiss. He hadn't been given too much information as to why besides one murder and one attempted, but they had dropped off at Gongaga to let Zack see his family and the next day they were apparently going to the Gold Saucer so Cloud could sell some chocobos. It just didn't work with what Genesis was telling him.
"What has Weiss told you?" He asked at last.
Genesis sighed. "AVALANCHE wants to destroy the world to save it. Only when it's purged of all 'contamination' will the Planet heal. They were probably going to use the proto-WEAPON that was residing in Valentine to do that."
That did sound like AVALANCHE, Angeal had to admit. "That's all?"
"He also wants to revive his brother, who'd been killed by Valentine." Genesis gave a slight shrug.
Angeal nodded slightly. "....Genesis. You were degrading the last time I saw you. How did you find a cure?"
"Ah, yes. That." Genesis smiled and raised his arms, wing half-spreading as well. "The Goddess deemed me worthy. She cured me, and so I serve her will and the Planet."
Oh good, Genesis had lost what was left of his marbles. "....I see." Angeal said simply.
Genesis smirked slightly and lowered his arms. "There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess. Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds." He put a hand to his own chest. "I will heal this world, I will protect it."
Angeal looked at him in silence for several moments.
"Genesis..." He said at last, slowly. "I think you might have been misinformed."
"At least I've been informed." Genesis replied. "They told you next to nothing!"
Again Angeal had to admit that his childhood friend had a point and he nodded slightly in acknowledgment. "Then let's find out together." He said. "Come back with me. Zack seemed to have a better idea of what was going on....perhaps he can tell us." Zack was the reason he was reluctant to leave Cloud's group.
"Hmph. So the owner is loyal to the puppy? Not too much of a surprise, I suppose." Genesis shook his head. "Fine, I'll humor you. But only Zack." He paused, and then his smile turned nasty. "Oh, Angeal? Did you know Sephiroth has possession of the spiky-haired blond?"
"......What....?"
"Oh, yes." Genesis started pacing. "I killed him, but Sephiroth took over and revived the body...then he took his own form." Genesis paused, frowning thoughtfully. "Though, come to think of it....he also claimed I was on the wrong side...."
".....Maybe that's a clue." Angeal said dryly to hide his shock. Cloud had told him Sephiroth had been killed, but he hadn't mentioned anything about the other man existing in his head!
But earlier on the airship he got flustered when I asked about Sephiroth. Angeal scowled a bit, then sighed. He'd worry about it later, when he had the leisure to talk to Cloud about it.
"We'll fly back in the morning." Genesis spoke up, glancing at the sky. "It's gotten far too dark to find our way back to Gongaga."
"....Alright." Angeal agreed reluctantly and tucked his wing away, watching Genesis do the same. They were SOLDIER and sleeping on the ground wasn't an imposition for them. What Angeal had trepidation about was bedding down with Genesis nearby.
He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting much sleep.