Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Price for a Memory ❯ Discoveries, Comfort and Dreams ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

5.

Sephiroth sat bleary eyed infront of the computer screen. All night he had been finding out information about each of the successful recruits. He was so tired, he almost had to tape his eyes open. Sleep threatened every few minutes with yet another yawn.

“Last one. Thank God.”

As the photo of the Cadet came up on the screen, Sephiroth couldn’t help but grin. Unruly blond hair. Striking blue eyes with that needy, yearning expression filling their depths.

He thought back to earlier that day. The feelings that rushed through his very being as the younger male ground his straining self against him. He would be lying if he said he didn’t feel anything stirring within himself.

On closer inspection of the photo of Cloud, Sephiroth noticed the same thing he saw in Cloud earlier. “Green?”

He squinted at the now enlarged picture. He was right. Amongst the natural sparkling blue lay dormant swirling mako green. To the untrained eye it would have just seemed as though Cloud had a green tint to his eyes but to Sephiroth? He knew better.

“Hmmmm, Cloud….Strife? I know that name.”

Quickly, he typed Cloud’s second name into the computers search engine. Those few moments the computer searched felt like an eternity. Sephiroth sighed impatiently while drumming his fingers over and over on the desk.

One name popped up.

“Strife, G.”

“Who the hell is that?”

Sephiroth clicked on the name given. A male popped up. The picture was old. He was wearing the old SOLDIER uniform.

What struck Sephiroth the most was those eyes. So cold, so pale blue. Almost glowing a white colour with a tint of blue. In those depths was a swirl of green. The male in question did not have blond hair as the General expected. He had black hair. Short but unruly black hair. The face was the same.

“Yes….as I thought….wait! That uniform. He was the previous? No….he couldn’t be? I thought he died?”

Sephiroth jumped up from his seat knocking it down in the process and thundered out the room.

------

Zack didn’t know how long he sat with Cloud for. He was saturated in now quite cold water. Still he held Cloud tight. The boy had stopped crying a while ago and now rested in Zack’s arms. He didn’t sleep but his eyes were shut.

Zack tried his best not to look at Cloud but his eyes kept wandering. The boy was after all curled up naked and very wet in his arms. He remembered back to earlier that afternoon when he saw Cloud literally trying to give himself to Sephiroth. A small part of him tinged green with jealousy. Hell….he didn’t even know this boy, but a part of him wanted to be near him. To be close to him. To never let him go.

He looked down at the boy. What was it that attracted people to him, both men and women? He had a certain quality about him. Zack wanted to find that out. He really was starting to shiver against Cloud now. He wondered how the blond didn’t have icicles hanging from his nose. The water was freezing.

As he stared down at the pale naked body he couldn’t help the hot rush in his stomach. No, he couldn’t do anything like that. He had to get the naked Cloud away from him. Or at least get him dressed.

“Cloud?”

“Hmm? What?”

Cloud was lost in his own daze again. He was physically and mentally exhausted. From the physical test of the exam to the mental trauma the mako injection gave him, he wanted to sleep for a month. However, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t fall asleep in Zack’s arms.

The heat that encased his small body prevented him from doing so. He wanted to lie in that same position forever. He didn’t want to miss it so he didn’t sleep.

However, every now and then his mind would transport him back to the moment he realised the General was on top of him. Although supposedly the mako did that to a person he was almost 100% sure he wanted, at that moment, the male above him. He felt a bit stupid thinking those thoughts. After all, he had just arrived there and didn’t even know the two men who showed a genuine interest in both him and his well being earlier that day.

“Cloud? Hey. I’m friggin’ freezing man. You ok now?”

“Yeh, I guess so. My skins still crawling though.”

“That always happens after the injections. I guess you have to try and just put it out of your mind.”

Cloud nodded slightly and made motions to stand up. He instantly blushed and covered his dignity on the stark realisation he was indeed standing starker’s infront of his Commanding Officer.

Zack picked himself up and laughed at Cloud hastily pulling a crisp white towel round his waist.

“Hey! Don’t worry about it Spiky! I’ve seen it all before. Hell….I have them too!”

Cloud glared at Zack before clutching his head tightly and moaning in pain.

Zack jumped over.

“You ok?”

“Ugh….I think so. I guess it was that damn mako jag eh?”

“Yeh, it fucks up your head for a day or two. That’s why they do them either a Thursday or Friday. You should sleep. Its….holy hell! Its 3am!”

Cloud nodded and started heading back into the dorm.

“Cloud?”

“Yes Zack?”

“I’m taking you out for a drink tomorrow night remember?”

“Huh?”

“Damn you’re a pin head! I told you when we met that if you got in, I would take you for a celebratory drink!”

“Oh yeh….looking forward to it.”

Cloud could have sworn he saw Zack winking at him again. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t touched. He had never really experienced anyone who genuinely cared for him as Zack did, even though they had met that morning. Something pulled him to Zack. He knew deep down inside that he could trust the friendly, caring and utterly stunning young male.

“Stunning? I didn’t just think that did I?” He said to himself as he pulled on boxers and collapsed under the sheets.

------

Sephiroth sat hunched up in a corner of the personnel room where all the files on each and every ShinRa employee both past and present were kept. His eyes squinted under the dim light. No one was supposed to be in here without proper clearance.

He flicked through this G. Strife’s profile portfolio. Random mako tests. New fangled, more powerful mako produced. He was the human guinea pig. Tests failed. Subject vanished from existence. His narrow eyes widened with each bullet point of this males time in SOLDIER.

“Powerful enhanced mako? Don’t tell me that boy has that in him?”

He came to the whole photograph of the male in question. He wore the complete General’s ensemble. Be it a bit older. It was still almost the same as Sephiroth’s. Under the picture, all it said was G. Strife. No dates. No first name. No nothing.

The last page Sephiroth came to was the results of this more powerful mako test.

“Tests inconclusive. Subject showed no real forms of distress. Only difference from regular mako was the eyes turning blue. Subject vanished three days after initial tests. Whereabouts unknown.”

Sephiroth remembered seeing this male about the barracks when he was just a child. He had always looked up to this male. Wanting to someday be as good as him. He found out from his superiors one day that he had vanished and was presumed dead. To be honest, Sephiroth was crushed. Now here he was. General of SOLDIER currently having one of this males relatives now under his second in command’s wing. Presumably this G. Strife’s son given the striking resemblance.

Sephiroth’s head ached with the tension. Had fate brought this young male into ShinRa and under his wing? He was sure of it, but couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that something untoward was going to happen. He had to talk to Zack. He had to tell him what he found out. If what he suspected was true then the boy had to be protected. No one could find out who he really was, if he was indeed G. Strife’s own flesh and blood. His son. Who knows what the crazy scientists in ShinRa would try to do to him.

------

Cloud tossed and turned in his sleep. Nightmares invaded his senses.

He stood in some sort of a reactor. Covered in blood. At his side Zack was lying crumpled up in a heap barely breathing. Tears streamed down his crimson stained cheeks. Maniacal laughter burst through the huge door at the top of the flight of stairs he stood at the bottom of. He held a large heavy sword high. Ready to charge.

“Don’t push your luck boy!”

The image shifted before he could move. He was lying above Midgar. He couldn’t move his body. Only his head. He turned it on the damp, muddy earth. Beside him lying in a pool of his own blood was Zack. Eyes staring lifelessly into Cloud’s. Non blinking. Sparkle gone. Dead.

Before he could do anything the image around him distorted and changed. The same barren battle field. The same terror. The same heart wrenching fear.

“Good to see you Cloud.”

“What will happen to the planet?”

“Who knows….that’s up to you.”

“I will never be a memory.”

He couldn’t see who was talking to him but he could feel this males presence. It disturbed him.

The image changed again. He could see a man hanging presumably dead deep within the earth. Encrusted in blue and green what he thought was mako. Another lay on the ground. Battle worn. A gun shot wound through the heart. The mako cocoon burst into light. The being inside slowly dropped to the ground. Raven black hair shifted with the slight movements. Vivid blue eyes opened. Glowing brightly despite the darkness all around. He bent down to pick up the fallen silver haired male.

“Now is not the time for slumber my brother. We still have much work to do.”

Cloud watched as the male seemed to stare right at him grinning evilly. A huge jet black wing shot out from the males left shoulder. Without a second glance he took off.

Cloud felt something from that black haired male. He couldn’t place it. Familiarity.

The same menacing laughter echoed throughout the eerie atmosphere. It scorched its way in one ear and out the other. Ringing in his ears.

“AHHHH FUCK!” Cloud leapt awake screaming.

His face slick with sweat. His bangs sticking to his forehead. Sheets twisted around his tiny body. A soft hand placed itself on his shoulder.

“What happened Cloud?”

Cloud looked up and saw black hair. Blue eyes. He immediately slapped the hand away thinking it was that guy from his dream.

“Woah Cloud. It’s just me. Zack.”

“I’m sorry….I thought you….sorry.”

“It’s ok. What did you see? What happened there?”

“I saw you die.”