The Fifth Act, Chapter 19
Title: The Fifth Act
Rating: T for violence.
Summary: FFVII Time-travel. Gen. Cloud has an accident with a Time Materia.
Author's Note: This chapter is mostly conversation. Next chapter, however, should be getting back to some of the good stuff. >:D
Previous Chapter
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The Fifth Act Chapter 19
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The door to his office crashed open. "Genesis," Angeal greeted, as though he'd entered with a polite knock instead of a deafening bang.
"What's the occasion?" he drawled.
"I need you out here. Strife and Sephiroth are fighting again."
Genesis rolled his eyes, taking his boots from the desk and snatching up his rapier in one smooth motion. "Why must we always handle this?"
“You think anyone else is going to step in-between those two when they’re going at it?” Angeal replied with humour. “Stop complaining and hurry up before they destroy something.”
He followed his friend out into the hallway. There was no need to show the way - one only had to follow the path of white-faced SOLDIERs.
As they arrived, Genesis took in the scene in less than half a second. There were several shallow gouges in the ceiling and wall - Sephiroth’s work, no doubt, as Cloud’s sword left thicker trails. A couch had been overturned, and a water cooler split open. No signs of materia entering the fray yet. In the centre of the common area, Strife and Sephiroth circled each other, swords flashing under the fluorescent lights. A handful of gawkers watched, dumbstruck at the high-speed spectacle, while the smarter ones made a stealthy escape.
Others, like Angeal’s over-enthusiastic Puppy, risked their lives in trying to step in.
Genesis intercepted him quickly, snatching the Time materia from Zack’s fingers moments before the spell could reach completion. “Don’t!”
“What? But they’ll-”
“It’ll just give Strife an unfair advantage,” Angeal explained. For some reason, status spells slid off Cloud like water, which mollified Genesis only slightly over his loss in Wutai. He was the materia specialist of the three, and that his greatest strength was nullified when fighting the blond SOLDIER left him at a frustrating disadvantage. “Stay back, we’ll handle this.”
Angeal leapt in, his Buster Sword catching the Masamune in its path, while Genesis darted behind Cloud and hooked his arms in a practiced move. He'd learnt the hard way that crossing swords was not enough to halt the blond - he'd just split his strange weapon as many times as necessary to get past. "Easy there, Chocobo."
The blond struggled in his grip for a moment before finally growing still. Genesis knew better than to release him straight away, however, waiting instead until Angeal convinced Sephiroth to back off. The slightest hint of threat from his opponent could set Cloud off again - good instincts, but troublesome when you were trying to get someone to calm the hell down.
Sephiroth lowered Masamune, and Cloud demanded, “Let me go.”
“Only if you’re not going to pick fights with the great General Sephiroth,” Genesis replied, only half-mocking.
He felt the blond stiffen in his grasp. “He started it.” The words were raw and full of hurt, and Genesis caught brief flash of confusion and regret steal across Sephiroth’s face before his neutral visage settled into place once more. The usual, then. Sephiroth had once again unwittingly treaded across some painful part of Cloud’s mysterious past.
They couldn’t entirely fault Cloud, however - not when it was Sephiroth who so persistently sought him out to ‘soothe relations’. While charismatic, the General did not possess a high level of social understanding, and his lack of tact and insensitivity could on occasion even make thoughtless clouts like Heidegger wince. “You know, these little misunderstandings wouldn’t happen if you would tell us why every third thing Sephiroth says is so upsetting,” he drawled, finally releasing the blond.
“He called me a puppet,” Cloud snarled.
A puppet?
Genesis considered that. Cloud didn’t appear to have any ambition, any hobbies, or even seem to enjoy fighting all that much. He didn’t complain about missions ever, no matter how difficult or boring. He got along comfortably with Kunsel, Zack, himself and Angeal, but appeared scarcely aware that anyone else in SOLDIER existed.
In short, he was exactly the sort of employee ShinRa craved. A stunningly powerful automaton who didn’t quibble over his paycheck, would work himself to death if asked, and almost never engaged in any unnecessary frivolities. The only one who ever managed to faze him was Sephiroth. He could now very well envisage the conversation that led to the General making the taunt.
Then Sephiroth just had to make it worse. “Why so offended? You work for ShinRa, don’t you?”
That bright, icy blue gaze burned, and Genesis almost recoiled at the intensity of the expression on the blond’s face.
That was a new one. Self-loathing.
Before he could react, say something, anything, Cloud stalked away without another word.
“Cloud! Hey wait, Cloud!” the Puppy called out, running after him.
An uneasy silence settled over the SOLDIERs remaining.
…………………………
“C’mon, Cloud. What’s the deal with you and the General? Maybe it’s something I can help with,” Zack wheedled. It had been two days since the latest ‘Sephiroth encounter’, and the dark mood surrounding his friend still hadn’t lifted, so Zack had decided to find out what the problem was. He wasn’t getting very far, but he couldn’t just give up! What kind of SOLDIER would he be then?
Cloud sighed. “Just forget about it already, Zack.”
“But you were really worked up! I thought you guys were friends now.”
“We’re not friends.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of peace at the aggressive note in Cloud’s voice. “But he wants to be, right? Why don’t you just give the guy a chance?”
“Give it a rest, Zack,” Kunsel interjected.
“Aww, come on, you’re curious too!” He flopped down next to them on the bleachers lining the sides of the gym. The facilities were mostly empty, aside from a couple of Thirds down the other end, running through sword drills. Zack watched them with detached interest. They were pretty sloppy. The standards must be dropping. Or maybe he’d gotten better! Yeah, that must be it.
“Sure I am, but I know when to drop it.”
“But I don’t get it. It’s a kind of lame insult to get worked up over, right? I mean, ‘puppet’? What does it even mean, really?” Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Cloud tense, and quickly backtracked. “-Although it was a pretty jerky thing to say. I’m surprised he’d risk it. You know, since you guys have been getting on better. As in, you don’t fight every time you meet anymore.”
“Only every second time,” Kunsel agreed.
“Yeah! I mean - hey, Kunsel, that’s not helping!”
Kunsel grinned. He knew it. His long-time SOLDIER buddy was ganging up on him! Zack idly wondered if he should recruit Luxiere to even the stakes again, but before he could carry that thought to completion, Cloud sighed and muttered, “I said forget about it. I shouldn’t have let it get to me. It’s just…” He trailed off uncomfortably. Zack mustered his patience and waited. The blond could take a while to gather his thoughts sometimes. “…I was used, once. And that person would say things like that, and…” The sentence died under a vigilant silence.
Vague, but also the most the mysterious blond had ever shared with them. Zack placed a hand on Cloud’s shoulder and made him look him in the eye. “Hey, Cloud, you know, I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, but are you running from any kind of trouble? I mean, when you first turned up in the slums, I kind of thought…”
He was met with a flat stare. “I’m not from Wutai, Zack.”
Kunsel guffawed. The gravity of the moment had been broken. “Seriously, Zack? Wutai?”
“Hey, we were having a big problem with spies at the time!”
“But they can’t exactly make their eyes glow.”
“It was only a random thought! It wasn’t like I tried to arrest him or anything!” They were getting way off topic. “And I wasn’t talking about that anyway! I know you’re not from Wutai!”
Cloud shook his head, an almost invisible smile dancing on the corner of his lips. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not something that can affect me here. I was just being… sensitive.” He stood up. “I’m heading out on a mission.”
“Be careful,” Kunsel called after him.
Zack watched him go with a thoughtful tilt to his head. He didn’t find out everything he wanted, but Cloud looked a little happier. The guy never really relaxed, but Zack figured if they could downgrade him from ‘ready to level the building with Comet at the first loud noise’ to plain old ‘weight of the world on his shoulders’, they weren’t doing too badly. Guys packing materia like that should never be so edgy. Never.
A towel hit in the back of the head. “Stop staring, doofus. He’s already paranoid enough.”
Zack shook his head. “I dunno, man. What do you think about it?”
“Cloud’s past?”
“Yeah.”
Kunsel paused as he unscrewed the cap on a bottle of water, looked as though he was about to say something, then shrugged. “I think it’s none of our business.”
“Come on. You’ve got nothing? Not even the slightest bit of rumour?” Zack prodded. His buddy always knew everything there was to know about their colleagues, even back when they were cadets.
“Nothing,” Kunsel confirmed. Then, in a lower voice, “And that’s what worries me.”
…………………………
It would be wrong to say Strife had adapted to life at ShinRa - it was more that ShinRa had adapted to him. The SOLDIERs had learned when to steer clear of him, the fanclubs had formed, and a group of green Thirds had even taken to using the Training Room an awful lot in hopes of catching his notice and getting some free pointers. Gossip regularly filled the halls regarding the mysterious blond, and Angeal knew of at least three betting pools among the ranks as to when Lazard would finally promote him to First Class. Too many people had borne witness to his and Sephiroth’s aborted duels now.
Still, something about that last scuffle had changed the status quo. Angeal couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was definitely more tension in the air.
He and Genesis had questioned their friend extensively about the conversation, and while it hadn’t been nice of Sephiroth to taunt Strife that way, by no means was it a particularly vicious insult. Similar remarks were thrown around casually enough about the drones in the accounting department. That Strife had reacted so violently to it - well, Strife reacted strangely to odd things, sometimes.
As interesting as Strife made life at the company, however, they still had to do missions, go to meetings, and fill in more paperwork than strictly necessary. Lazard was supposed to cut down on this sort of thing, but it sometimes seemed like he only increased the load.
Angeal knocked three times on the office door, but didn’t receive a reply. Poking his head in, he found it empty, and cursed. Not here either. He’d already checked his quarters and with the Director. The gym next, then.
Yet the gym also bore no sign of his quarry - just the usual smattering of off-duty SOLDIERs from various classes, working out and sparring on the mats. It had been a little sparse since the Wutai War - due both to the thinning of the ranks, and a newfound lack of motivation. Nobody spoke - the only sounds were of exercise, grunts, and whirring treadmills.
Except in the cases of certain Seconds who persisted in failing to read the mood. “Hey, Angeal!” Zack waved and bounded over to him.
“Zack,” he greeted warmly. “Getting in some extra training?”
“Yeah. I’m still set on making First!” He pumped his fist in the air a few times.
“It’s good you’re keeping at it. Determination and persistence are valuable qualities in a SOLDIER. But can you tell me what matters the most?”
“Honour,” Zack replied promptly. “And to never forget the pride of being a SOLDIER.” He delivered the last few words in a singsong voice, having gone through the exchange plenty of times before.
Perhaps he had rehashed the point with his student a few too many times, but Angeal didn’t appreciate the mantra being mocked. “That’s good, but a SOLDIER has a lot of responsibility. Honour and pride aren’t things you can just be tested on, Zack. If you don’t treat it seriously, you’ll never make First Class.”
He sobered up immediately, and saluted. “Yes sir!”
Angeal shook his head with a wry smile. “Now, I didn’t come here to lecture you. I was wondering if you’ve seen Sephiroth today?”
“The General?” Zack tilted his head to the side contemplatively. “Don’t think I have, sorry. Is it important?”
“Just some paperwork that needs his signature before it can go through Lazard.” Angeal knew if he were to just put it on the General’s desk, it could take days to make it to its final destination.
"Well, if you're looking for Sephiroth, try asking Cloud," Zack suggested. "He always knows."
Ifrit, they’d better not be in the middle of starting another fight. They’d only just finished replastering the common area from the last one. “And where can I find Strife?”
“He was hanging out in the Equipment Room before. He’s probably still there.”
An unusual place to ‘hang out’, unless he was waiting for a mission dispatch, but Angeal had long given up analysing the man’s every movement. Better to leave that sort of thing to the Turks. He thanked Zack and headed to the Equipment Room.
Sure enough, Zack’s information led him right to the blond. "Strife. I'm looking for Sephiroth. Have you seen him?"
Strife stared at him for a moment, as though taking an unusually long time to register the question, and then replied, "He's in the Training Room."
Angeal paused. The Training Room? What would Sephiroth be doing there? He normally steered clear of it to minimise his chances of a Hojo encounter. "Are you sure? You're not just making it up to get rid of me faster?" the SOLDIER asked with a grin.
Strife spared him an annoyed glance. "Go see for yourself. He's been there all morning."
Angeal shrugged. “If you say so.” Normally Strife haunted the Training Room, presumably because Sephiroth never went there, so he could be right. Might explain why he was brooding in the Equipment Room instead.
Fortunately, when the entrance to the Training Room whooshed open, Angeal finally caught sight of the wayward General. He was pacing restlessly down the far end of the observation area. “Sephiroth!”
His friend halted his restless march and frowned. "How does everyone keep finding me? I thought here, at least, I could get some peace."
Angeal chuckled. "Hiding, were you? All I did was ask Strife."
"That's what the last five people said," he all but growled.
He waved the papers in his hand. “Sorry, but I need your signature.”
Practically snarling, Sephiroth snatched the papers from his hands, scanned them in a matter of moments, and signed in a messy scrawl against the control console before thrusting them back into Angeal’s arms.
He tidied up the papers, and asked, “What has you in such a rotten mood anyway?”
Sephiroth waved an arm vaguely in an attempt to sidestep the question. Angeal didn’t back off. He could guess - only one thing occupied his friend’s attention these days. “It’s Strife, isn’t it?”
His only answer came by way of a sharp green glare. Right on the money, then.
Angeal sighed. “What have you done to upset him now?”
“Not a thing.”
“Really.” He doubted that.
"I couldn’t have. I do believe he's avoiding me. I haven't seen him for days," Sephiroth explained shortly. ‘Days’ no doubt meaning since last they crossed swords.
“He really is good at avoiding you, then.” SOLDIER wasn’t that large - it took an uncanny run of luck to miss running into an acquaintance in the halls at least once a day. Evading someone actively looking for you was damn near impossible, but somehow Strife had done it. At least now he knew the source of Sephiroth’s bother. “Why do you want to see him so badly, then?”
“I…” Sephiroth stopped short, cleared his throat, and for a moment Angeal thought the sentence would remain forever unfinished. Not so. “…I wanted to apologise.”
Angeal could do nothing but stare for what felt like a hundred years. Finally, the cogs in his brain resumed turning, and he grumbled, “Very funny.”
“I’m serious.”
He couldn’t be. Sephiroth didn’t apologise, because he simply never believed himself to be wrong. They had come to accept it, though it sometimes caused problems when Genesis got stubborn about apologies too and the conflict would drag out until a comfortable amount of time had passed and normal relations could be resumed without acknowledging any misstep. “You’re going to apologise to Strife?”
Sephiroth shrugged, looking the most helpless as Angeal had ever seen him. “I don’t understand why, but my last comment appeared to upset him considerably. I had intended to elicit a response - not cause pain.”
Angeal shook his head. “I’ve never seen you try so hard to get along with somebody before. Why now?”
“Cloud is different.”
“We all know that. But what do you want? Just to be friends?” Sephiroth didn’t simply reach out to people. It had taken he and Genesis a good couple of years to wear their way into their friend’s trust.
“It’s necessary, if we wish to spar.”
"Is that what this is about? You want to fight him?"
"Is it so wrong?" Sephiroth asked. "I exist to fight. Fighting Cloud forces me to new levels, pushes me to improve." Belatedly, he added, "I don't mean offence to you or Genesis. You're both still challenging opponents."
Angeal dismissed the concern, even as he mused on this new revelation. "I'm sure Genesis will get cranky, but I get it. Neither of us can keep up to your speed anymore, but Strife can still match you in swordplay." Genesis preferred materia, and Angeal preferred his fists. While they were both adept with a sword, neither could really test Sephiroth with his chosen weapon. In a materia-free battle, there never existed a question of who would win. Even Genesis would acknowledge that.
No wonder Sephiroth was so obsessed. After elevating his swordplay to such absurd levels and mastering a blade few could even consider wielding, he’d eventually run out of interesting opponents, and the joy he derived from battle began to wane. He wanted a rival, a purpose to all his training and fighting, and no matter how hard Genesis tried to rise to that position, he’d never managed. No one had. Sephiroth stood alone at the top of the world.
Until Cloud Strife appeared from nowhere.
Angeal couldn’t recall his friend ever wanting something before, so found himself compelled to try and find a way to help. “Then set up a spar. A proper one,” he suggested. “You don’t have to be buddies for that. Heck, it might let Strife blow off some steam and get over whatever bugs him so badly about you, and you get a good fight out of it.” He had some suspicions he’d kept to himself about Strife, too. This could be a good way to test them out in a controlled environment.
"Tseng won't allow it. Not so long as Cloud remains under investigation.”
Angeal considered that. "We could do it unofficially. Go out onto the wastes, away from ShinRa and without any witnesses or risk of collateral damage.”
“…There is still the matter of Strife’s death threat.” But Sephiroth was beginning to warm up the idea, he could tell.
"He’s got that contract Lazard is so fond of," Angeal pointed out. "And he hasn't tried to kill you in your sleep yet. If he forgets himself in battle, Genesis and I can step in, like we always do." Genesis would agree to help, probably, if he framed it to sound like it would help them both. He was just as fascinated with Strife as Sephiroth, although their admiration definitely lay along different fault lines. Something had passed between the blond and his old friend, something that Genesis refused to disclose.
Sephiroth almost looked convinced, but then his brow furrowed once more. “Except Strife would never agree.”
Angeal slapped him on the shoulder. “My friend, you just leave that to me.”
After all, Strife would forget to be angry with them the instant Sephiroth came into the picture.
And as Zack often demonstrated, sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Next chapter
Rating: T for violence.
Summary: FFVII Time-travel. Gen. Cloud has an accident with a Time Materia.
Author's Note: This chapter is mostly conversation. Next chapter, however, should be getting back to some of the good stuff. >:D
Previous Chapter
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The Fifth Act Chapter 19
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The door to his office crashed open. "Genesis," Angeal greeted, as though he'd entered with a polite knock instead of a deafening bang.
"What's the occasion?" he drawled.
"I need you out here. Strife and Sephiroth are fighting again."
Genesis rolled his eyes, taking his boots from the desk and snatching up his rapier in one smooth motion. "Why must we always handle this?"
“You think anyone else is going to step in-between those two when they’re going at it?” Angeal replied with humour. “Stop complaining and hurry up before they destroy something.”
He followed his friend out into the hallway. There was no need to show the way - one only had to follow the path of white-faced SOLDIERs.
As they arrived, Genesis took in the scene in less than half a second. There were several shallow gouges in the ceiling and wall - Sephiroth’s work, no doubt, as Cloud’s sword left thicker trails. A couch had been overturned, and a water cooler split open. No signs of materia entering the fray yet. In the centre of the common area, Strife and Sephiroth circled each other, swords flashing under the fluorescent lights. A handful of gawkers watched, dumbstruck at the high-speed spectacle, while the smarter ones made a stealthy escape.
Others, like Angeal’s over-enthusiastic Puppy, risked their lives in trying to step in.
Genesis intercepted him quickly, snatching the Time materia from Zack’s fingers moments before the spell could reach completion. “Don’t!”
“What? But they’ll-”
“It’ll just give Strife an unfair advantage,” Angeal explained. For some reason, status spells slid off Cloud like water, which mollified Genesis only slightly over his loss in Wutai. He was the materia specialist of the three, and that his greatest strength was nullified when fighting the blond SOLDIER left him at a frustrating disadvantage. “Stay back, we’ll handle this.”
Angeal leapt in, his Buster Sword catching the Masamune in its path, while Genesis darted behind Cloud and hooked his arms in a practiced move. He'd learnt the hard way that crossing swords was not enough to halt the blond - he'd just split his strange weapon as many times as necessary to get past. "Easy there, Chocobo."
The blond struggled in his grip for a moment before finally growing still. Genesis knew better than to release him straight away, however, waiting instead until Angeal convinced Sephiroth to back off. The slightest hint of threat from his opponent could set Cloud off again - good instincts, but troublesome when you were trying to get someone to calm the hell down.
Sephiroth lowered Masamune, and Cloud demanded, “Let me go.”
“Only if you’re not going to pick fights with the great General Sephiroth,” Genesis replied, only half-mocking.
He felt the blond stiffen in his grasp. “He started it.” The words were raw and full of hurt, and Genesis caught brief flash of confusion and regret steal across Sephiroth’s face before his neutral visage settled into place once more. The usual, then. Sephiroth had once again unwittingly treaded across some painful part of Cloud’s mysterious past.
They couldn’t entirely fault Cloud, however - not when it was Sephiroth who so persistently sought him out to ‘soothe relations’. While charismatic, the General did not possess a high level of social understanding, and his lack of tact and insensitivity could on occasion even make thoughtless clouts like Heidegger wince. “You know, these little misunderstandings wouldn’t happen if you would tell us why every third thing Sephiroth says is so upsetting,” he drawled, finally releasing the blond.
“He called me a puppet,” Cloud snarled.
A puppet?
Genesis considered that. Cloud didn’t appear to have any ambition, any hobbies, or even seem to enjoy fighting all that much. He didn’t complain about missions ever, no matter how difficult or boring. He got along comfortably with Kunsel, Zack, himself and Angeal, but appeared scarcely aware that anyone else in SOLDIER existed.
In short, he was exactly the sort of employee ShinRa craved. A stunningly powerful automaton who didn’t quibble over his paycheck, would work himself to death if asked, and almost never engaged in any unnecessary frivolities. The only one who ever managed to faze him was Sephiroth. He could now very well envisage the conversation that led to the General making the taunt.
Then Sephiroth just had to make it worse. “Why so offended? You work for ShinRa, don’t you?”
That bright, icy blue gaze burned, and Genesis almost recoiled at the intensity of the expression on the blond’s face.
That was a new one. Self-loathing.
Before he could react, say something, anything, Cloud stalked away without another word.
“Cloud! Hey wait, Cloud!” the Puppy called out, running after him.
An uneasy silence settled over the SOLDIERs remaining.
…………………………
“C’mon, Cloud. What’s the deal with you and the General? Maybe it’s something I can help with,” Zack wheedled. It had been two days since the latest ‘Sephiroth encounter’, and the dark mood surrounding his friend still hadn’t lifted, so Zack had decided to find out what the problem was. He wasn’t getting very far, but he couldn’t just give up! What kind of SOLDIER would he be then?
Cloud sighed. “Just forget about it already, Zack.”
“But you were really worked up! I thought you guys were friends now.”
“We’re not friends.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of peace at the aggressive note in Cloud’s voice. “But he wants to be, right? Why don’t you just give the guy a chance?”
“Give it a rest, Zack,” Kunsel interjected.
“Aww, come on, you’re curious too!” He flopped down next to them on the bleachers lining the sides of the gym. The facilities were mostly empty, aside from a couple of Thirds down the other end, running through sword drills. Zack watched them with detached interest. They were pretty sloppy. The standards must be dropping. Or maybe he’d gotten better! Yeah, that must be it.
“Sure I am, but I know when to drop it.”
“But I don’t get it. It’s a kind of lame insult to get worked up over, right? I mean, ‘puppet’? What does it even mean, really?” Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Cloud tense, and quickly backtracked. “-Although it was a pretty jerky thing to say. I’m surprised he’d risk it. You know, since you guys have been getting on better. As in, you don’t fight every time you meet anymore.”
“Only every second time,” Kunsel agreed.
“Yeah! I mean - hey, Kunsel, that’s not helping!”
Kunsel grinned. He knew it. His long-time SOLDIER buddy was ganging up on him! Zack idly wondered if he should recruit Luxiere to even the stakes again, but before he could carry that thought to completion, Cloud sighed and muttered, “I said forget about it. I shouldn’t have let it get to me. It’s just…” He trailed off uncomfortably. Zack mustered his patience and waited. The blond could take a while to gather his thoughts sometimes. “…I was used, once. And that person would say things like that, and…” The sentence died under a vigilant silence.
Vague, but also the most the mysterious blond had ever shared with them. Zack placed a hand on Cloud’s shoulder and made him look him in the eye. “Hey, Cloud, you know, I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, but are you running from any kind of trouble? I mean, when you first turned up in the slums, I kind of thought…”
He was met with a flat stare. “I’m not from Wutai, Zack.”
Kunsel guffawed. The gravity of the moment had been broken. “Seriously, Zack? Wutai?”
“Hey, we were having a big problem with spies at the time!”
“But they can’t exactly make their eyes glow.”
“It was only a random thought! It wasn’t like I tried to arrest him or anything!” They were getting way off topic. “And I wasn’t talking about that anyway! I know you’re not from Wutai!”
Cloud shook his head, an almost invisible smile dancing on the corner of his lips. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not something that can affect me here. I was just being… sensitive.” He stood up. “I’m heading out on a mission.”
“Be careful,” Kunsel called after him.
Zack watched him go with a thoughtful tilt to his head. He didn’t find out everything he wanted, but Cloud looked a little happier. The guy never really relaxed, but Zack figured if they could downgrade him from ‘ready to level the building with Comet at the first loud noise’ to plain old ‘weight of the world on his shoulders’, they weren’t doing too badly. Guys packing materia like that should never be so edgy. Never.
A towel hit in the back of the head. “Stop staring, doofus. He’s already paranoid enough.”
Zack shook his head. “I dunno, man. What do you think about it?”
“Cloud’s past?”
“Yeah.”
Kunsel paused as he unscrewed the cap on a bottle of water, looked as though he was about to say something, then shrugged. “I think it’s none of our business.”
“Come on. You’ve got nothing? Not even the slightest bit of rumour?” Zack prodded. His buddy always knew everything there was to know about their colleagues, even back when they were cadets.
“Nothing,” Kunsel confirmed. Then, in a lower voice, “And that’s what worries me.”
…………………………
It would be wrong to say Strife had adapted to life at ShinRa - it was more that ShinRa had adapted to him. The SOLDIERs had learned when to steer clear of him, the fanclubs had formed, and a group of green Thirds had even taken to using the Training Room an awful lot in hopes of catching his notice and getting some free pointers. Gossip regularly filled the halls regarding the mysterious blond, and Angeal knew of at least three betting pools among the ranks as to when Lazard would finally promote him to First Class. Too many people had borne witness to his and Sephiroth’s aborted duels now.
Still, something about that last scuffle had changed the status quo. Angeal couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was definitely more tension in the air.
He and Genesis had questioned their friend extensively about the conversation, and while it hadn’t been nice of Sephiroth to taunt Strife that way, by no means was it a particularly vicious insult. Similar remarks were thrown around casually enough about the drones in the accounting department. That Strife had reacted so violently to it - well, Strife reacted strangely to odd things, sometimes.
As interesting as Strife made life at the company, however, they still had to do missions, go to meetings, and fill in more paperwork than strictly necessary. Lazard was supposed to cut down on this sort of thing, but it sometimes seemed like he only increased the load.
Angeal knocked three times on the office door, but didn’t receive a reply. Poking his head in, he found it empty, and cursed. Not here either. He’d already checked his quarters and with the Director. The gym next, then.
Yet the gym also bore no sign of his quarry - just the usual smattering of off-duty SOLDIERs from various classes, working out and sparring on the mats. It had been a little sparse since the Wutai War - due both to the thinning of the ranks, and a newfound lack of motivation. Nobody spoke - the only sounds were of exercise, grunts, and whirring treadmills.
Except in the cases of certain Seconds who persisted in failing to read the mood. “Hey, Angeal!” Zack waved and bounded over to him.
“Zack,” he greeted warmly. “Getting in some extra training?”
“Yeah. I’m still set on making First!” He pumped his fist in the air a few times.
“It’s good you’re keeping at it. Determination and persistence are valuable qualities in a SOLDIER. But can you tell me what matters the most?”
“Honour,” Zack replied promptly. “And to never forget the pride of being a SOLDIER.” He delivered the last few words in a singsong voice, having gone through the exchange plenty of times before.
Perhaps he had rehashed the point with his student a few too many times, but Angeal didn’t appreciate the mantra being mocked. “That’s good, but a SOLDIER has a lot of responsibility. Honour and pride aren’t things you can just be tested on, Zack. If you don’t treat it seriously, you’ll never make First Class.”
He sobered up immediately, and saluted. “Yes sir!”
Angeal shook his head with a wry smile. “Now, I didn’t come here to lecture you. I was wondering if you’ve seen Sephiroth today?”
“The General?” Zack tilted his head to the side contemplatively. “Don’t think I have, sorry. Is it important?”
“Just some paperwork that needs his signature before it can go through Lazard.” Angeal knew if he were to just put it on the General’s desk, it could take days to make it to its final destination.
"Well, if you're looking for Sephiroth, try asking Cloud," Zack suggested. "He always knows."
Ifrit, they’d better not be in the middle of starting another fight. They’d only just finished replastering the common area from the last one. “And where can I find Strife?”
“He was hanging out in the Equipment Room before. He’s probably still there.”
An unusual place to ‘hang out’, unless he was waiting for a mission dispatch, but Angeal had long given up analysing the man’s every movement. Better to leave that sort of thing to the Turks. He thanked Zack and headed to the Equipment Room.
Sure enough, Zack’s information led him right to the blond. "Strife. I'm looking for Sephiroth. Have you seen him?"
Strife stared at him for a moment, as though taking an unusually long time to register the question, and then replied, "He's in the Training Room."
Angeal paused. The Training Room? What would Sephiroth be doing there? He normally steered clear of it to minimise his chances of a Hojo encounter. "Are you sure? You're not just making it up to get rid of me faster?" the SOLDIER asked with a grin.
Strife spared him an annoyed glance. "Go see for yourself. He's been there all morning."
Angeal shrugged. “If you say so.” Normally Strife haunted the Training Room, presumably because Sephiroth never went there, so he could be right. Might explain why he was brooding in the Equipment Room instead.
Fortunately, when the entrance to the Training Room whooshed open, Angeal finally caught sight of the wayward General. He was pacing restlessly down the far end of the observation area. “Sephiroth!”
His friend halted his restless march and frowned. "How does everyone keep finding me? I thought here, at least, I could get some peace."
Angeal chuckled. "Hiding, were you? All I did was ask Strife."
"That's what the last five people said," he all but growled.
He waved the papers in his hand. “Sorry, but I need your signature.”
Practically snarling, Sephiroth snatched the papers from his hands, scanned them in a matter of moments, and signed in a messy scrawl against the control console before thrusting them back into Angeal’s arms.
He tidied up the papers, and asked, “What has you in such a rotten mood anyway?”
Sephiroth waved an arm vaguely in an attempt to sidestep the question. Angeal didn’t back off. He could guess - only one thing occupied his friend’s attention these days. “It’s Strife, isn’t it?”
His only answer came by way of a sharp green glare. Right on the money, then.
Angeal sighed. “What have you done to upset him now?”
“Not a thing.”
“Really.” He doubted that.
"I couldn’t have. I do believe he's avoiding me. I haven't seen him for days," Sephiroth explained shortly. ‘Days’ no doubt meaning since last they crossed swords.
“He really is good at avoiding you, then.” SOLDIER wasn’t that large - it took an uncanny run of luck to miss running into an acquaintance in the halls at least once a day. Evading someone actively looking for you was damn near impossible, but somehow Strife had done it. At least now he knew the source of Sephiroth’s bother. “Why do you want to see him so badly, then?”
“I…” Sephiroth stopped short, cleared his throat, and for a moment Angeal thought the sentence would remain forever unfinished. Not so. “…I wanted to apologise.”
Angeal could do nothing but stare for what felt like a hundred years. Finally, the cogs in his brain resumed turning, and he grumbled, “Very funny.”
“I’m serious.”
He couldn’t be. Sephiroth didn’t apologise, because he simply never believed himself to be wrong. They had come to accept it, though it sometimes caused problems when Genesis got stubborn about apologies too and the conflict would drag out until a comfortable amount of time had passed and normal relations could be resumed without acknowledging any misstep. “You’re going to apologise to Strife?”
Sephiroth shrugged, looking the most helpless as Angeal had ever seen him. “I don’t understand why, but my last comment appeared to upset him considerably. I had intended to elicit a response - not cause pain.”
Angeal shook his head. “I’ve never seen you try so hard to get along with somebody before. Why now?”
“Cloud is different.”
“We all know that. But what do you want? Just to be friends?” Sephiroth didn’t simply reach out to people. It had taken he and Genesis a good couple of years to wear their way into their friend’s trust.
“It’s necessary, if we wish to spar.”
"Is that what this is about? You want to fight him?"
"Is it so wrong?" Sephiroth asked. "I exist to fight. Fighting Cloud forces me to new levels, pushes me to improve." Belatedly, he added, "I don't mean offence to you or Genesis. You're both still challenging opponents."
Angeal dismissed the concern, even as he mused on this new revelation. "I'm sure Genesis will get cranky, but I get it. Neither of us can keep up to your speed anymore, but Strife can still match you in swordplay." Genesis preferred materia, and Angeal preferred his fists. While they were both adept with a sword, neither could really test Sephiroth with his chosen weapon. In a materia-free battle, there never existed a question of who would win. Even Genesis would acknowledge that.
No wonder Sephiroth was so obsessed. After elevating his swordplay to such absurd levels and mastering a blade few could even consider wielding, he’d eventually run out of interesting opponents, and the joy he derived from battle began to wane. He wanted a rival, a purpose to all his training and fighting, and no matter how hard Genesis tried to rise to that position, he’d never managed. No one had. Sephiroth stood alone at the top of the world.
Until Cloud Strife appeared from nowhere.
Angeal couldn’t recall his friend ever wanting something before, so found himself compelled to try and find a way to help. “Then set up a spar. A proper one,” he suggested. “You don’t have to be buddies for that. Heck, it might let Strife blow off some steam and get over whatever bugs him so badly about you, and you get a good fight out of it.” He had some suspicions he’d kept to himself about Strife, too. This could be a good way to test them out in a controlled environment.
"Tseng won't allow it. Not so long as Cloud remains under investigation.”
Angeal considered that. "We could do it unofficially. Go out onto the wastes, away from ShinRa and without any witnesses or risk of collateral damage.”
“…There is still the matter of Strife’s death threat.” But Sephiroth was beginning to warm up the idea, he could tell.
"He’s got that contract Lazard is so fond of," Angeal pointed out. "And he hasn't tried to kill you in your sleep yet. If he forgets himself in battle, Genesis and I can step in, like we always do." Genesis would agree to help, probably, if he framed it to sound like it would help them both. He was just as fascinated with Strife as Sephiroth, although their admiration definitely lay along different fault lines. Something had passed between the blond and his old friend, something that Genesis refused to disclose.
Sephiroth almost looked convinced, but then his brow furrowed once more. “Except Strife would never agree.”
Angeal slapped him on the shoulder. “My friend, you just leave that to me.”
After all, Strife would forget to be angry with them the instant Sephiroth came into the picture.
And as Zack often demonstrated, sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
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