Chapter Text
Cloud sat next to The Body for minutes, or hours. He studied the slump of pale shoulders, pressed into hard-wood. A single strand of silver hair as it carved a winding path over trapezius muscles and a jutting shoulder-blade, then bridged the divot of a spine and wrapped beneath narrow hips. The Body's fingers were twitching. One hand stretched out, reaching across the floor to grasp weakly at a wooden plank. The pads of his fingers were dirty from pawing the barren earth beneath him.
The Body took a breath, shoulders contracting with the effort. Deep and wakeful. This Body did not belong to the man Cloud had seen step into the pool minutes, or hours earlier. This man was older. His hair a few inches longer. This man was made of ghosts and the stench of burning flesh.
It had been a long time since Cloud felt the soft resistance of human flesh beneath his blade's edge. Sephiroth bled free and cleanly, staining the church's wooden floor with burnt ichor. Last time, he hadn't bled at all. Last time, he had disappeared into a wisp of smoke and petty words of promised vengeance. This time, he rolled over with a grunt. Glassy, jade eyes stared at the ceiling, unseeing. The gaping wound in his side stretched and sputtered under the effort of his movement. He seemed not to notice. He was still breathing.
Cloud's hand shook around the hilt of his sword.
✴︎✴︎✴︎
The nice thing about being irrevocably damaged and fucked in the head, Cloud thought, was that you didn't really remember much. When shit hit the fan and got weird, Cloud could just check out and come-to somewhere else. His body knew what to do, and whatever needed doing just got done. Cloud could deal with the nightmares and the cold sweats and the panic attacks later. It wasn't a bad deal, all things considered.
Which meant that when Cloud woke in a hospital bed at the WRO headquarters, he just sort of assumed Sephiroth was dead. He remembered the bleeding wound, the lack of resistance, and the sound of air escaping a punctured lung. The Body didn't even resist. And besides, if Sephiroth wasn't dead, then Cloud definitely was dead. Which he wasn't. Probably. Cloud was ninety-percent certain he wasn't dead.
To prove it to himself, he sat up on the bed. His body moved accordingly, the sheets beneath him were scratchy and stiff. He still wore his own clothes. There was a bag of saline hanging from a rack next to his bed, though it had not been connected to anything, confirming that whoever had dragged him here was familiar with and respected the emergency medical protocol he had on file. So… not dead.
Cloud swung his legs over the edge of the bed, confident that this time tomorrow, he'd be back in his shitty apartment, eating shitty food, and waiting for some shitty customer to ask him to deliver something to a far-away shitty town in the middle of nowhere. Exactly how Cloud liked his shitty life to go.
The door to his room opened as soon as his boots hit the linoleum floor. Cloud expected Reeve, but instead found Tifa, staring warily at him with wide, auburn eyes from the doorway. She held herself tightly, muscles tensed - coiled, like she was ready for a fight. But she looked… skittish. That was bad.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, and did not enter the room. The WRO basement wasn't exactly a formal hospital. There were no chairs or furniture for her to sit on - just white walls and cupboards stuffed with medical supplies. It wasn't welcoming in the slightest, but Cloud couldn't go to public hospitals. For a multitude of reasons.
He sat back down on the bed and patted a spot next to him on the thin mattress, bidding her to stop hovering. "Fine. What happened?"
Tifa took a slow breath and didn't move. "You don't remember?"
Cloud held himself very still. "Not much."
She pursed her lips and finally took a step forward, crossing the room slowly. Warily. Like she was afraid to get too close. "Well," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. "You called me."
Cloud waited for her to continue, but was met only with silence and a skittering gaze. "And..?"
"And then… nothing. I picked up, and you wouldn't say anything. I checked your apartment first, and when you weren't there I went to the church. That's where I found you. It was like you couldn't even see me. And he was…"
Something sharp caught in Cloud's throat. "Right."
"So… ," Tifa's posture relaxed, just barely. "Was he lying the whole time? About being from another world?" She asked.
"No." Cloud shook his head. "No, that was - he went back to his world. But then…. Another one came out. The Sephiroth from this world, I guess. I think they-," Cloud drew a circle in the air with his finger, "-swapped places."
"But…" Tifa shifted her footing. She still wouldn't sit down. Cloud tried not to take it personally. "The Body was real - I mean physically. I thought before you were just seeing his ghost?"
"Yeah, I dunno," Cloud ran a hand over his face. He needed a shower. A hot shower that fogged up his whole bathroom and was at least forty minutes long, specifically. "Where's The Body?"
Tifa shifted again, bordering on a fidget. "Reeve has him in a containment cell."
"…Why?"
The look Tifa sent him was not reassuring. None of this was reassuring. Cloud couldn't remember the last thing anything had reassured him, actually. "Because he's Sephiroth?"
"You think The Body's gonna get up on it's own and start burning down towns?"
That had been a step too far. Cloud could tell by the way Tifa's red eyes darkened with irritation. "Just because he's non-responsive doesn't mean he's going to stay that way, Cloud. It's not like he's dead."
The room very suddenly tilted on it's axis, and Cloud had to dig his fingers into the mattress to keep himself upright.
Bzzt. Bzzt.
"Hold on, I think that's Vincent." Tifa pulled out her phone, deftly flipping it open and answering, like she hadn't just thrown Cloud's entire world into chaos. "Hey, you're coming right?"
Vincent's deep timbre was too low to make out, even for Cloud's enhanced ears. Just a familiar rumble through the fuzzy speaker of Tifa's PHS.
"Yeah, if you would. And can you let Cid know? Thanks. I'll see-" Tifa pulled the phone away, looking miffed. "He hung up on me." She huffed.
"Can't we just… euthanize him?" Cloud asked.
Tifa looked stricken. "For hanging up on me? That's not funny, Cloud."
"I mean Sephiroth."
Tifa sighed, pocketing her phone again, somehow. Cloud had never been able to figure out exactly where the pockets on her skirt were. "I already asked. They… want to make sure it wouldn't affect the lifestream, first."
Right. Geostigma. Fuck. Fuck .
"But Vincent's on his way. Barret should be back form Corel soon. Not sure about Yuffie or Cid."
"Nobody needs to come," Cloud said, pushing himself off the bed. He didn't need to be here. He needed to kill Sephiroth. Or at least make sure he was actually contained. If he was trapped in a physical body that might make things easier, but it wouldn't mean jack shit if he was still able to project his mind, or control anyone with Jenova's cells inside them. Cloud knew how to resist, but there were still a handful of ex-SOLDIERs out there who might be susceptible. Not to mention the kids who'd been infected during Advent Day. Their cells were dormant thanks to Aerith's rain, but they were still there .
" Cloud !" Tifa's hand was a vice grip on his wrist. How did he always forget how strong she was? "Where are you going?"
"To find Sephiroth and make sure he's not trying to escape, or take over anyone else's body."
"Cloud…"
Cloud loved Tifa, but he hated when she said his name like that. Like she could see through to some secret part of him that didn't fucking exist. Like she was sorry for him, or worse, she was sorry that he wasn't sorry for himself. He grit his teeth to keep from saying anything he'd regret later.
"Reeve's team wants to run a couple of tests on you." She said, the nervous energy in her posture reaching a fever pitch. "Nothing crazy, just-,"
"I'm fine ," Cloud bit out.
"You were completely comatose! We had to carry you here, Cloud!"
"I was just checked out. Would'a come-to eventually."
" Cloud ." Tifa took a slow breath and let go of his hand. It took every ounce of control Cloud had not to bolt on the spot. "We… we can't keep pretending that this is normal."
"Who's pretending?"
"What if this happens when you're out on a delivery? Or watching Marlene?"
Cloud grimaced. It has happened , he thought bitterly. Which is why I don't watch Marlene. For Cloud, losing time was as normal as breathing. He sort of thought everyone already knew and just politely didn't ask him about it. "I'll be careful." That wasn't a lie, mostly.
"Cloud, don't walk away from this."
He reached for his fusion sword, neatly propped up against the wall next to the door frame. "Tell Reeve I ain't doing his tests." The door closed with a quiet, hollow click behind him. Tifa didn't follow him out. He couldn't blame her.
The WRO headquarters was visually similar to any number of Shinra buildings and research centers that Cloud had been in, but it would be impossible to mistake it for one due to the sheer number of upbeat, cheerful people roaming it's halls. Even the guards smiled and waved at him as he passed restricted areas. Fuzzy though his memory may have been, he was pretty sure he'd have been lashed if he did that shit when he was a cadet.
Like Shinra, the WRO kept its most sensitive research underground. Luckily, no one was going to stop Cloud Strife from going where he pleased. One of the only perks being lauded as a savior of the planet afforded him.
Or at least, that's what he thought before Reeve appeared in the middle of a hallway, hands on his hips, and staring Cloud down like a mother would her misbehaving child. A very familiar expression to Cloud, unfortunately.
"Where do you think you're going?" Reeve asked. He'd make a great mother, actually.
"Take a guess." Cloud pushed past him.
"Judging by the state of you, I can only imagine you denied my team's medical care."
Cloud grunted, both to affirm Reeve's assumption, and to express his annoyance at the man's persistent steps dogging his heels.
Reeve sighed. "If you're so determined to confront him, you should know you're going the wrong way."
Cloud stopped abruptly, squinting at Reeve. He took a breath. Even he knew that he was on thin ice, here. Most people looked at him like he was a bomb waiting to go off. The least he could do was not give them any more reason to worry. "Where is he, then?"
With a smile that, on Reeve, always looked political, he extended his hand towards a hallway to their right and said, "Follow me."
Initially, Cloud was pissed as hell when Reeve just took him to his office, but he managed to calm down and swallow his tongue when the man pulled out a set of blueprints for a cell, and opened up a surveillance feed on his wall monitor. At the absolute least, Reeve wasn't lying about the security measures. Sephiroth was being kept in a windowless cell with reinforced tungsten walls three meters thick in all directions. There was no door - just a hatch in the ceiling, a ventilation system primed with heavy duty aerosolized sedatives, and a small mechanism in the wall for delivering food and supplies. Also the cell wasn't even in Edge - the WRO had modified it from within an old containment facility just outside Midgar. What Cloud saw now, was life footage from within the cell.
More important than any of that, was The Body itself, which lay motionless on a hospital bed in the center of the room. It was hooked up to several monitors keeping track of it vitals and administering regular fluids.
"What's wrong with him?" Cloud asked, stepping closer to the monitor.
"We're not entirely sure. His wounds have almost completely healed. His vitals are all stable. Brain activity suggests he's experiencing normal cycles of REM sleep. But he hasn't moved a muscle since we found him."
"How long ago was that?"
"Roughly twelve hours."
Cloud frowned. "He was moving just fine last I saw him." That may have been an overstatement, now that Cloud actually thought back to the laborious, twitching motions Sephiroth made on the floor of Aerith's church. Whatever. Didn't matter.
"So what's your plan, if you won't let me kill him?"
Reeve swallowed. "For now, we continue to monitor him. If he wakes, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime," Reeve stepped forward with a remote, turning the monitor off and forcing Cloud to realize he'd been inching closer to the screen and was barely a foot away from it now. "I think it would be best if you at least went home to rest. Unless you're willing to let my medical team take a look at you?"
"Fuck no. And I'm not going anywhere except that facility." Cloud pointed past Reeve to the blueprints on his desk.
"Cloud, I have the best people already on-site, I assure you."
"No you don't, 'cause I'm the best people. And what about Rufus - he know about this? That place is gonna be crawling with Turks if he finds-,"
"Cloud, I am asking as a friend - you have done enough for us all. Please, let me handle this for you. Trust me to handle this for you. Go home. Rest."
Something ugly swelled inside Cloud's chest, rising past his diaphragm and catching in his throat. He swallowed, hard. This was one of those times that Cloud felt like he was being tested by the Planet to prove he could behave. He hated behaving. "If he so much as twitches ."
"I'll call you," Reeve assured, holding his hands up in placation. "Believe me, I don't like this anymore than you."
"I want access to that feed."
Even Reeve couldn't hide the frown creeping into his expression. "For your own peace of mind, I don't recommend that. But I'll see what I can do."
The swelling in Cloud's throat shifted, just slightly. He nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow for an update."
Before Reeve could protest - because Cloud knew he'd protest - Cloud spun on his heel and stormed out the door. Tifa appeared next to him almost instantly, jogging down the hallway to catch up. She had that look on her face, like she was pissed at him but knew it wouldn't get her anywhere and was trying to hide it.
She followed him silently, down the sterile halls, past the modest atrium and the little cafe that sold nothing but salads, until they got outside. It was midday, and the sun was baking the asphalt of the WRO's front steps. Still, people milled about smiling, chatting about their week. Completely carefree and unaware of the living doomsday weapon in a bunker next door.
"Sorry for being an ass," Cloud said, stopping next to Tifa at the top of the stairs.
She pursed her lips. "You know you don't have to be alone in this. It's not like last time."
Cloud didn't want to think about last time. "I know."
"You can always come to me, Cloud - ideally before things get bad enough that you completely shut down."
"Tifa…"
She held up her hands. "I'm not asking you to move back in with me, or anything. I know you - you made your boundaries pretty clear about that. I just want to make sure you know that you being family isn't conditional on you being with me. I'll still be here for you no matter what, okay?"
Cloud wanted to crawl into a hole. He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve any of this. He nodded, anyway.
Tifa bumped her shoulder into him. "Besides, I'm completely over you."
"A huh."
"I wouldn't take you back even if you got on your knees and begged. I've seen the light. You were a terrible boyfriend."
Cloud opened his mouth to defend himself but, yeah, he had no argument against that.
Tifa pushed him again. "Oh come on, I'm kidding!"
"No you're not," Cloud said, but couldn't entirely hide his smile.
Tifa's own expression twisted in repressed mirth. "Yeah, you were pretty bad… but you're still Cloud." She said, and god, sometimes Cloud could see the exact way that Aerith's charm had rubbed off on Tifa. It was nice, though, seeing her confident like this. Looping her arm with his and dragging him down the steps.
"Come on," She said. "You're going to help me out in the bar today. It'll get your mind off things."
Cloud grimaced.
"See? You're dreading it so much, it's already working!"
✴︎✴︎✴︎
The eerie quiet of Cloud's apartment was unwelcome and discomforting. Cloud felt itchy. No matter how often he did his dishes, or changed his bed, or showered, the air was stale with silence. Sephiroth was not here. The feeling was different from before, when he disappeared out of spite, or frustration with Cloud's poor housekeeping habits. This absence felt like a void, eating away at Cloud's mind. A black hole swallowing pinpricks of light.
His days and nights blurred together. The perpetual threat of Sephiroth waking in a physical body hung over Cloud's neck at all times - a masamune shaped guillotine. He couldn't relax for even a minute, muscles coiled, tense and always ready to fight. Cloud's attention span was already frayed to begin with, now it hung by a single thread.
He stopped taking long-distance deliveries. He stopped taking any work outside the city limits. He called Reeve every day, sometimes multiple times, for updates. It was the most time he'd spent on his phone in years. Perhaps ever.
During downtime (which he had a considerable amount of), Cloud rode out to Midgar and poked around the facility Sephiroth was being held in. Since it had been repurposed and cleaned out, the WRO installed an above ground bunker entrance for employees. Whatever Shinra had used it for in it's past life, it's sole operative function now was the containment and security of the Calamity's Son.
Sometimes Cloud would just park himself in front of the bunker, slowly baking alive in the reflected heat of the shoddy, patchwork tarmac lot. Other times he'd poke around Aerith's church, looking for clues as to how Sephiroth came back - where his physical body came from . The church gave away nothing, and Aerith was silent, as usual.
On the worst days, when he couldn't get himself to hold a single fleeting thought in his mind, he'd sit in front of the glistening pool and watch yellow flower petals drift across it's surface. Cloud imagined they were tiny merchant boats, traveling across a great sea to trade goods in a world without SOLDIER or Shinra or the calamity. A perfect world, created just for them by Aerith's careful hand.
Coming back to his own broken world was always bitter. But somehow, he felt lighter, more prepared for the inevitable fight ahead.
A month after Cloud found The Body in the church, he got a call from Reeve. "He's awake."
Cloud didn't wait to hear the rest - he was outside, geared up, and mounting his bike before he even realized he had hung up. He couldn't even remember driving to Midgar or entering the facility. He only stopped to take stock of his own thoughts when he realized that no one working seemed concerned, or panicked. Reeve waited for him in a surveillance room outside Sephiroth's actual cell. He looked annoyed.
"If you hadn't hung up on me I could have saved you the trip out here," Reeve said, arms crossed. He gestured to the large monitor on the wall, made to look like an observation window into Sephiroth's cell. "Our reinforcements are working as expected. We've yet to try out the sedative, but I'm waiting for him to tire himself out a little bit first."
Cloud's eyes flickered to the screen. The hospital bed Sephiroth had previously been sleeping so peacefully in was now upside down, pushed against the far wall. Its metal frame bent and twisted. The drip stand was in a similar position, folded in half, saline bags torn and discarded in a wet puddle.
At the other end of the room, Sephiroth crouched on the tiled floor, facing the corner like a child playing hide-and-seek. His spider-web hair fell across his back in a tangled mess, and he wore only a pale blue hospital gown.
A vivid memory of Sephiroth braiding his long silver hair and pouting came to mind. Once again, Cloud was forced to contend with the physical reality of this man in a way he never had before. Even as a child, Sephiroth had always been beyond human to him. It never occurred to Cloud that he could be stripped bare like this. The sight sent a confusing mixture of delight and discomfort swirling through him.
"Has he said anything?" Cloud asked, eyeing several fist-shaped dents in the metal wall of Sephiroth's cell. They were deep, but not deep enough to be of concern.
"No. He threw a tantrum when he woke up, and then put himself in time-out. He hasn't moved since."
"Good." Cloud turned from the monitor. This room was small - a copse of chairs littered the floor in what Cloud assumed was an attempt by Reeve at setting up an observation gallery. It wasn't the most inviting room, but Cloud had camped out in far worse places. "Keep an eye on him, I'm gonna grab my stuff."
"Pardon?"
"Unless you got a pullout and some extra blankets in here?"
Reeve turned fully to look at Cloud, arms crossed. "Are you implying that you plan to stay here?"
"You got that live feed I asked for?"
Even in the dim lighting from the observation monitor, Cloud could see Reeve's eye twitch. "How about this - you talk to one of our trauma counselors, I get you that live feed. Deal?"
"Hell no."
" Cloud -, "
"I've had enough people messing around in my head, Reeve. It's not happening." That being said, Cloud knew if he didn't give some kind of compromise, Reeve might actually crack down on him. Tifa, for all her nagging, would never push him to see someone. Barrett was happy enough to let him be as long as Cloud didn't put the kids in danger. Vincent was as fucked up as he was and had his own shit to deal with. And besides them, no one else came around often enough to ask questions about Cloud's sanity. Reeve, though… Reeve was a fixer. If Cloud let too many of his cracks show, there would be consequences.
"Look," Cloud said, letting out a heavy breath. "Lemme stay one night. Just to make sure he's not getting out. Then I'll go home, and let you handle it."
It was a compromise that weighed heavily in Reeve's favor - not that Reeve seemed to realize that. Probably a good thing. After a tense beat of silence Reeve's hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "One night," He muttered. "Then you're going home to rest."
Assuming Sephiroth doesn't find a way to escape in that time , Cloud thought.
It was a small blessing that Reeve actually left him alone to get the observation room set up. Much to Cloud's surprise, someone did actually come in with a cot, some supplies, and a ready-made meal which saved Cloud the hassle of unloading all his crap off the bike.
Sephiroth hadn't moved since Cloud arrived, which suited him just fine, so he turned to inspect the meal - pre-portioned chicken and rice with steamed vegetables. It was cold, but edible. Better than Shinra military rations at least. Against his better judgment, Cloud wondered if they'd give this same meal to Sephiroth. Would he eat it? Could he eat it?
Cloud blanched as another thought entered his conscious mind, unbidden. Did they install a toilet into that cell? That… would be an enormous oversight, if not. But Cloud couldn't see one on the monitor - not that he particularly wanted to. It was just… Cloud whipped out his PHS. He didn't think he could handle another verbal conversation with Reeve, but he had to know, so a text would suffice for now.
A few minutes later, just as Cloud was finishing the most overcooked broccoli he'd ever eaten in his life, his PHS buzzed in his pocket.
[6:43 PM] Reeve : It's in the south-west corner. Before you ask, the northern security camera does cover it. There are no blind spots. Let me know if you'd like that feed as well.
Cloud grimaced.
[6:44 PM] Me: No thanks.
To Cloud's immense relief and begrudging boredom, Sephiroth remained completely still, facing that north-west corner like a doll - or perhaps mannequin would be more accurate. Around an hour into Cloud's watch, a panel near the floor of the east wall of the cell slid open and a tray of food slipped through, just next to the twisted bed frame. It was left untouched.
By nightfall, Cloud was beginning to think maybe Sephiroth was just an empty shell, lashing out upon waking from muscle memory and little else. But for some reason, just as he was getting his cot set up, Sephiroth stood and turned. Even through the grainy camera feed, Cloud could feel the intensity of his gaze as though it were boring straight through the LED lights of the screen and into Cloud. Sephiroth's lips parted and moved around a sound that Cloud couldn't hear, but didn't need to. A familiar buzzing anticipation spread through his chest. Reunion.
Cloud sat down heavily on the cot, staring intently at Sephiroth's unmoving frame. He looked so strange without his heavy pauldrons and long, leather coat. Not small by any means, but small er . The pull of Reunion was only slightly more pronounced than it had been when Sephiroth was a ghost. Small blessings.
All-nighters were no stranger to Cloud, but this one felt particularly harrowing. Maybe it was the way Sephiroth just stood there, in the middle of the room, staring down the camera for hours without so much as flinching.
Back when his head was fucked - well, more fucked - Cloud got real good at sleeping through hallucinations of Sephiroth staring at him from distant shadows. This wasn't really all that different, but Cloud couldn't shake the disquieting reality of Sephiroth's physical body. Didn't his muscles cramp up? He hadn't eaten. Was he not tired?
Even with all his enhancements, Cloud's body still experienced basic wear and tear. He'd get twitchy if he pushed himself too hard. His muscles would seize up and spasm. If he didn't sleep once every three days there was a noticeable decline in his hand-eye-coordination and reaction time. He could probably stand completely still without blinking for an hour - maybe two - but after that, he'd have to move at least a little bit. Shift his footing, shake out his arms, something .
By three am, Sephiroth still hadn't moved an inch, and if he blinked, it hadn't been while Cloud was watching. The buzzing in his chest continued, which meant that Sephiroth possessed some level of awareness - an intent to control Cloud. That in turn confirmed this was the worst-case scenario Cloud had most feared: The Body was Sephiroth. His consciousness, or some part of it, had come back intact.
Without meaning to, Cloud ended up in a staring contest with Sephiroth via the observation monitor until dawn.
Reeve came in around six, humming like Cloud was exactly where he expected him to be. Then he turned to the monitor and said, "Huh." A few other members of the team assigned to Sephiroth's containment shuffled in. One or two wore white coats and carried clip boards. A metal cart was wheeled in after them with a hoard of medical equipment Cloud didn't care to identify. That was his cue to get the hell out of dodge.
"Be careful," He said, wincing at the soreness in his legs and back which had, in fact, cramped up from sitting in the same position for the last three hours. "He's still in there, and capable of exerting some level of control over Jenova's cells. Don't let any ex-SOLDIER's near him."
"You're the only one allowed within a hundred-mile radius." Reeve said.
Cloud nodded. Right. Reeve wasn't an idiot. Hell, Reeve was one of only a handful of people still alive who actually knew Sephiroth before and after he lost his marbles. "Hey," Cloud said, biting his cheek to punish his mouth for speaking without permission. Whatever. Might as well ask, at this point. "You knew Sephiroth before, right?"
The look on Reeve's face was hard to describe. Not sorrow exactly, but something close to it. Regret, maybe? "I did," he said. "Though not well. We spoke only a few times. Mostly at galas or during the odd board meeting."
"What was he like?"
"I couldn't tell you," Reeve said, crossing his arms. "Or rather, I could tell you how he presented himself - quiet, attentive, patient, and very tight laced. Professional to a fault, perhaps. But I never knew the man himself. I've heard he was close with the other firsts, but…"
Reeve didn't have to say more on that front. Cloud was the closest thing left to a SOLDIER First now, and he'd never even made it into the program. The truth was anyone with a meaningful connection to the person Sephiroth had been before Nibelheim was long dead. There was a time when Cloud would have been ashamed to even wonder about that person - the illusive hero of his youth. He would have dismissed the thought entirely, rationalized that Sephiroth had always been insane, cruel, and hell-bent on exacting megalomaniacal revenge. The only difference between before Nibelheim and after was that Sephiroth just stopped trying to hide who he really was.
But Cloud couldn't get the image of a long sterling braid out of his mind. When he closed his eyes, he saw Sephiroth's angular face, still plump with the vestiges of youth, masking his nerves with a stern expression and commanding tone. How was Cloud supposed to forget the way Sephiroth fidgeted, smiling so softly when he talked about the Cloud from his own world. Like Cloud had been his childhood hero, and not the other way around.
If Sephiroth was capable of those emotions, of caring so obviously and openly about those around him, how the hell was Cloud supposed to reconcile the mass murderer being held in confinement a hundred feet below the ruins of Midgar, right now?
It wasn’t a question anyone alive could answer for him. So Cloud nodded and waved himself off, slipping out of the observation room before he could think too hard about what all those lab coats were here for.
The drive back to Edge was uncomfortable. Cloud felt itchy and unsettled, knowing he should try to process what was happening with Sephiroth, but longing to go home and just pretend everything was fine. He’d been working his ass off the last year and a half to not do shit like that anymore, though. But maybe Reeve was right about letting someone else handle things this time. What was it the other Sephiroth had said to him? That he wasn't meant to live like this. Was he really still running away from his problems if everyone around him kept telling him to put them down?