The mighty have fallen

“The mighty have fallen”
Part 3


“Mr. Strife, can you hear me?” The voice was male and he didn’t recognize it.

“Go ‘way,” Cloud mumbled, disoriented and aching, “head hurts.”

“We’ll give you something for the pain, Mr. Strife. Can you open your eyes, please? I need to test your pupil reactions.”

Cloud frowned in confusion, not understanding the comment. Though he knew he would regret doing it, he cracked a blue eye open warily. Though the light in the room was soft, it hurt his eye and his head. He groaned but forced himself to open the other eye. A blurred figure stood over him. Cloud blinked, trying to bring it into focus.

“The surgery was a success, Mr. Strife,” the blurry figure said.

“Surgery?” Cloud repeated, squinting at the figure. His eyes finally focused on the person speaking to him and he was able to make out details. It was a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair. Cloud deduced by the white lab coat that it was a doctor. He glanced down, realizing that he was in a hospital bed and in one of those awful gowns that opened in the back.

The doctor frowned. “Yes, the surgery. We implanted the chip in your brain as you agreed. If you’re experiencing memory loss—“

“No,” Cloud interrupted swiftly as everything came rushing back. “I think it was just the anesthetic making me confused. I…I remember now. Sephiroth—where is he?” He looked around, half expecting to find his former rival and current prisoner lying in the other bed in the room.

The doctor seemed relieved. “He’s still where you last saw him, Mr. Strife. We don’t intend to revive him until you’ve recovered from the implantation. For now we need to focus on you. Can you sit up?”

Cloud slowly levered himself up on his elbows, wincing at the throbbing in his head as he struggled into a sitting position. “Seems like I can,” he grunted as he succeeded. There was a spot on the back right side of his head that hurt the most and he reached up impulsively to touch it. It was then that he realized his head was bandaged and he felt a pang of worry. “Do I still have my hair?” he asked.

The doctor smiled. “Oh yes. The procedure only required us to lift a small piece of your skull away to implant the chip. We did have to shave the site of the incision, but it’s only roughly the size of a small coin. The rest of your hair will cover it while it grows back and it only required three stitches.”

“That’s good to know,” Cloud responded absently, wincing as he pressed his fingers lightly over the spot. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any of those pain killers you mentioned on you right now, do you? I feel like I’m waking up after drinking a gallon or so of whiskey.”

“I’ll send for a nurse to feed some pain medication into your IV, after I’ve examined your eyes for pupil response. I’ll try to be quick.”

Cloud nodded, then groaned and wished he hadn’t. He hadn’t been exaggerating to the doctor; the last time his head ached this bad was when he went on an all night drinking binge with Cid. The examination was uncomfortable because it involved Cloud having to follow a bright, small pen light with his eyes, but it was blessedly short and when it was finished, the doctor did as he promised and sent for someone to bring pain medication.

It was damned good medicine, too. As soon as it reached his veins, Cloud felt the throbbing ache wash away and he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He fell into an easy sleep and his last thoughts before losing consciousness were of Sephiroth.

~*********************~

The next time Cloud woke up it was to visitors. Tifa was there and so was Barret. Cloud yawned and sat up, smiling at them. Tifa returned his smile, but Barret was scowling.

Cloud sighed. “If you came just to tell me what an idiot you think I am for doing this, save your breath.”

“Too bad, Spikey,” Barret rumbled, “’Cause I’m gonna say it whether you want to hear it or not. At first I didn’t believe it when Tifa called me up and told me what you were doing…had to come and see for myself. I thought you had more sense than this.”

Cloud shot an annoyed look at Tifa and she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. “What, did you think I wasn’t going to tell everybody that you were having brain surgery, Cloud? They’re our friends and I wasn’t going to keep something so serious from them.”

He sighed and nodded slowly, relieved that the motion didn’t cause him as much pain as it had after the procedure. He was recovering fast, thanks to his Mako and Jenova cell enhancements. “I get that, Tifa. I was going to tell everyone after I recovered and figured out the details of how to use this chip. I can argue with people and explain myself much better when I’m not doped up on medication or fighting a headache.”

“You like to keep things to yourself,” Tifa countered. “I wanted everyone to know in case something went wrong. Lucky for you, Barret was the only one close enough to get here on short notice. I’ve left messages for the others to let them know you made it through okay but I think you should prepare for their arguments and questions. You and Reeve are the only ones that think this is a good idea, Cloud.”

He fell back against the mattress again, covering his eyes with his hands. “I get it, everyone thinks I’m crazy. I already knew they would. None of you can understand, all right? Let’s just talk about something else.”

Tifa exchanged a look of frustration with Barret and sighed, “Fine. We won’t talk about it now, but it’s not going to go away.”

Cloud knew that all too well. He understood his friends’ concerns, he really did. He didn’t blame them for their feelings but he couldn’t make them understand his, either. They changed the subject and no more was said about Sephiroth or Cloud’s dangerous decision to be his custodian.

~******************************~

Cloud spent a little time each day visiting the observation room where Sephiroth was kept. He never said anything, knowing that Sephiroth wouldn’t hear him even if he could think of something to say. He just watched him for a while. It was oddly comforting to look upon the general’s sleeping countenance.

Reeve visited every couple of days to check on Cloud’s progress and Tifa was kind enough to bring him some of his own clothes so that he didn’t have to wear a gown. On the third day of his recovery, Cloud was visiting Sephiroth and inspiration struck him as he gazed down on the man’s sculpted, angelic features. He had an opportunity here to do something that he’d always wanted to do but never dared. His teeth worried his lower lip as he cast a furtive look about to be sure there weren’t any people around to witness what he was about to do. Seeing that the coast was clear, Cloud leaned over Sephiroth’s bed and slowly reached out his right hand.

He hesitated when his fingertips were an inch away from the man’s face, irrationally worrying that the instant he touched him, Sephiroth’s feline eyes would snap open and he’d throttle him. Cloud swallowed and made himself continue. It felt oddly like blasphemy when his fingertips made contact with the general’s smooth, cool skin. He allowed them to glide over the high cheekbones, the bridge of the nose and the thick, long eyelashes. Cloud smiled slightly and he relaxed, taking further liberties. He softly traced the line of Sephiroth’s cheek to his angled jaw, then on to his chin. Finally, he brushed his first two fingers over the man’s parted, shapely lips and allowed himself to fantasize about what it would be like to kiss them.

“Cloud.” A deep and resonant voice said softly from behind him.

Cloud’s heart leapt in his throat and he yanked his hand away from Sephiroth’s face as he turned around. Vincent stood a few feet away, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his pale face. How the former Turk always managed to move so quietly was beyond Cloud and he wondered how long he’d been standing there. How much had he seen and what sort of an impression might it have made?

Vincent stepped closer, his ruby eyes leaving Cloud to fall on Sephiroth. In his left hand, he held a slim black briefcase. Cloud was too startled by his sudden appearance to ask about it. Whatever thoughts were behind those intense eyes were well hidden. Cloud shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, eyeing the black-haired gunman warily.

“I know, you think I’m making a mistake, right?” Cloud finally said when Vincent didn’t speak or change his expression. The red gaze fell on him again, expressing neither anger nor concern.

“I think you’re taking a risk,” Corrected Vincent softly before releasing him from his gaze to look again at Sephiroth. “Whether it’s a mistake or not has yet to be seen. It could go either way.”

It shouldn’t have surprised him that Vincent wasn’t trying to dissuade him. Of all his friends, the gunman had his own emotional investment where Sephiroth was concerned. “I just couldn’t kill him again,” Cloud said, looking down at the silver-haired swordsman. “They put his life in my hands and…I just…” He shook his head and lowered his eyes, unable to articulate.

Vincent studied him silently for a moment before responding: “I understand. I’d rather not be put in the position either. No matter his sins, he’s Lucrecia’s child. He might have been mine as well, if fate had taken a different turn.”

Cloud looked up, prompted by Vincent’s words and the faint regret in his voice. As hard as the battles against Sephiroth had been on him, it must have been torture on Vincent. He didn’t think the gunman had any paternal feelings toward Sephiroth but he’d loved the woman that gave birth to him. “Sorry Vincent,” Cloud said uncomfortably. “I don’t think any of us paid enough attention to what this has been like for you.”

Vincent shook his head, his expression softening just a little. “I never asked any of you to. My feelings…are private. I only spoke them aloud to you because I thought you should know someone understands. I would have preferred to watch over Sephiroth if I had been allowed, but circumstances demanded another path.”

Cloud nodded somberly, feeling a swell of gratitude. “They say I should be recovered enough in a few more days to make full use of the chip. When that happens they’ll wake Sephiroth up. Are you going to stick around for it?”

“Regrettably not. I came to say hello and to give you this.” The raven-haired man lifted the briefcase that he’d brought in with him.

Cloud took it and frowned. “What’s in here?”

“Information,” Vincent answered, his gaze again going to Sephiroth. He nodded his head at the comatose young man. “For him. Everything I could find from what was left of Hojo’s lab. I doubted he would believe your word alone, so I compiled all of the research documents and records I could salvage that contained the truth behind Sephiroth’s origins. The rest is up to you, Cloud.”

The blond swordsman stared at the case, then at his friend. He’d worried about how he was going to convince Sephiroth that he wasn’t lying when he told him the truth. Now he had evidence to back it up. It must have been a lot of work for Vincent to put this information together and it was honestly the most supportive thing any of his friends had done so far. “Thank you,” Cloud said sincerely.

“Let me know how it turns out,” Vincent said with a faint smile. “I hope for the sake of the planet, Sephiroth and you and I that your plan succeeds, Cloud. Farewell.”

He turned to leave and Cloud silently watched him go, wondering if anyone would ever truly know Vincent Valentine.

~***************************~

By the end of the week, the headaches were gone and the stitches were removed. If Cloud had been a normal man it would have been a much slower process. When the doctors said that Cloud was recovered enough for them to release Sephiroth from the stasis machine, Reeve discussed it with him.

“He’ll probably be disoriented and weak at first, but I don’t know how he’d react to waking up and seeing you,” Reeve said. “Let’s face it, the last time he saw you was when you tossed him into the heart of a reactor. It’s up to you if you want to be there when he wakes up or if you’d rather let the staff explain his situation to him first.”

Cloud blinked, amazed that he hadn’t thought of any of that himself. “Maybe it’s a good idea for your people to tell him what’s going on, before he sees me,” Cloud said as he lowered his bright blue eyes to the glass of water he held in his hand. “It’ll give him time to cool off.”

Reeve nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. Now, I think I should explain how your chip works. I’m sure you’ve got questions.”

“Yeah,” Cloud agreed. “I’d like to know what changes they’ve made to the functions and how to activate them, for starters.”

“Okay, here goes,” Reeve answered, “they were able to change the function that stimulated pain receptors to make him feel pain. Now it manipulates neurotransmitters and tells his brain to go to sleep. You’ll be able to make him have a nap whenever you want, and all you have to do is concentrate on it. They wanted to give it a function to make him dizzy but I told them you aren’t interested in causing discomfort, so they came up with the power snooze button instead.”

Cloud raised his eyebrows. “I was expecting them to come up with a way for me to make him black out, but this is better. It’s kind of funny, to think I’ll be able to make the great Sephiroth take power naps when he gets out of line.” He felt laughter threatening to break free and his lips twitched.

“Neat, isn’t it?” Reeve agreed with a smirk. “Sometimes I wish I had the brains to be a scientist. Anyway, another interesting feature of the chip is that it limits his ability to do violence toward you.”

Cloud’s brows drew together and he frowned. “How limited are we talking, and how does it stop him?”

“He can’t act on any thoughts of deliberately killing you, basically. He can’t try to smother you, poison you, cut your throat, drop a piano on your head or anything else that would kill you. His body would just refuse to do it. He can still hit you or shove you, but he can’t carry it to a level where it would result in your death. Say the two of you were dueling and he spotted an opening. Even if he wanted to take advantage of it to stab you, his body wouldn’t comply.”

Cloud wasn’t sure if he liked this particular feature. “That seems like overkill when I can already force him to fall asleep if he does anything like that.”

“But you can only do that if you know it’s coming, Cloud.” Reeve’s expression was grim. “You still need to sleep and eat. The inhibiting feature ensures that Sephiroth won’t be able to take advantage of your vulnerable moments. Hojo may have been a twisted bastard but he knew Sephiroth would kill him if he ever got the chance and he knew how to make sure that wouldn’t happen.”

Cloud heaved a sigh and nodded. “Okay, when you put it that way I get it. What else do I need to know?” He didn’t say aloud that Sephiroth was too proud to resort to underhanded attacks. He was the sort of man that would prefer the more direct approach and for his victim to see him coming, but there was no telling what his mind was going to be like when he woke up.

~******************************~

Waiting for the process of Sephiroth’s revival to complete was torture. Cloud had mistakenly believed it would take a few hours at most, but two full days passed before he got word that Sephiroth was conscious. All that was left was for them to explain to the General that he was a slave again and Cloud had taken Hojo’s place as his keeper.

“Cloud, you’re going to wear a groove in the floor,” Tifa gently admonished as he paced his hospital room restlessly. She stared at him, noticing the angry expression on his fair face. “Who exactly are you angry with?” She blurted, trying to understand.

He stopped and looked up from the floor at her. “I didn’t realize it was that obvious,” he murmured, running his fingers through his pale golden hair. He made himself sit down in the chair next to hers. He didn’t look at her as he said; “I’m not angry at anybody in particular. I’m angry at this whole situation and even though I volunteered for this to save Sephiroth’s life, it makes me sick to my stomach to think of being his ‘master’. I know you don’t pity him like I do, so I don’t expect you to understand.”

She reached out and combed her fingers through his hair soothingly. “I do understand…at least, as much as I’m able to. You’re a nice guy. You aren’t interested in having that sort of power over someone but you’re doing it because you think it’s better than the alternative. I don’t agree but that isn’t the issue. I also think you’re feeling a lot of guilt and that concerns me.”

Cloud looked at her sidelong and cracked a half-smile. “You always did know me too well, Tifa.”

She smiled and ruffled his hair. “I just want you to know I’m here for you, even if I disagree with you. If it’s all right by you, I’m going to take off when they come to get you. I’m not ready to be near him, Cloud. I still have things to come to terms with and I can’t even try to be fair with him until I do.”

He squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Tifa. I understand how you feel and I wasn’t going to ask you to stick around afterwards. It’s enough that you’re not holding all this against me.”

“Where are you going to keep him?” Tifa asked with a frown, realizing that they hadn’t established that yet.

“I’m going to bring him to my house until I can arrange a place somewhere else. I don’t want to keep him in Kalm, knowing how you feel about him. Maybe somewhere remote would be best, away from the city and crowds.”

Tifa almost said that isolating a man who was antisocial to begin with might not be the best idea, but she thought better of it. Until Cloud could be sure Sephiroth wasn’t a danger to society, it might be best for him to live away from civilization. She shrugged. “I trust you, Cloud. I’m sure you’ll figure it out and I’m strong enough not to freak out if I spot him in passing. I can live with him being in Kalm for a little while.”

~***********************************~

Tifa left before they gave Cloud the go-ahead. It was getting late and she had things she needed to do at home, so Cloud gently ushered her out and promised to call her in the morning. After she was gone he sat back down and turned on the television, clicking through the channels in a useless attempt to keep his mind off of Sephiroth.

He’d started to doze a little in his chair when his door opened to admit Reeve.

“Cloud, it’s time.”

Cloud stood up so abruptly that he got a head rush. He stumbled slightly and licked suddenly dry lips. Reeve stood waiting at the door with a somber expression on his face.

“Are you ready for this?” Reeve questioned.

“I’ve got to be,” Cloud shrugged. He straightened the dark blue sweater he was wearing and brushed imaginary lint off of his jeans before running his fingers through his hair. It was all subconscious on his part and he didn’t even realize he was doing it until he heard Reeve chuckle.

Cloud gave him a puzzled look and Reeve said; “You remind me of a teenager, primping one last time before a first date.”

The blonde’s pale cheeks flooded with color and his golden lashes lowered to conceal the fire of his blue eyes. “I don’t care what he thinks of my looks,” he mumbled almost petulantly.

“Sure you do,” Reeve corrected with good-natured humor. “He’s your old nemesis, after all.” His brown eyes were sparkling, hinting that he knew damned well there was more to Cloud’s instinctive primping than wanting to show off to an old rival.

“How is he doing?” Cloud asked, procrastinating out of sheer nervousness.

“He seems lucid and calm enough, but we’ve got him restrained as a precaution for now. It’s up to you to decide when he can be released.”

Cloud’s lips thinned. “That doesn’t seem necessary to me. He’s been in a coma and his muscles are probably like water.”

“He’s been in a stasis,” Reeve corrected. “It isn’t the same thing. True he’s temporarily weakened and stiff because he hasn’t been using his muscles, but there’s no deterioration. Remember Cloud, that machine preserved Sephiroth for all these years. Somehow Hojo constructed it to be powered on Time and Regeneration materia. It kept him frozen in time while simultaneously restoring damaged tissue. That factor combined with Sephiroth’s enhanced attributes will have him back to full strength within weeks—days, even.”

Cloud grimaced, feeling stupid. He already knew all of this but he was so wound up with conflicting feelings that he’d forgotten the details. “Okay then, I guess I should brace myself and get in there fast. Restraints aren’t going to hold him even in a weakened state, you know.”

Reeve swallowed. “I…didn’t consider that. Hurry up, Cloud.”

~******************************~

Cloud paused outside the door to Sephiroth’s room and took a deep breath. Steeling himself, he looked through the glass window to see what was going on inside. Sephiroth was awake and his bed was raised so that he could sit up. Cloud could see the padded leather restraints around his wrists, attached to the metal sidebars of the bed. He assumed his legs and ankles were likewise bound, but a sheet covered him from the waist down and hid them from view. His silver hair draped his naked chest in a shiny curtain and his emerald cat eyes were on the doctor in the room with him. His stunning features seemed calm but contemptuous as he listened to what the doctor was telling him.

Cloud moved to turn the handle on the door and Sephiroth’s eyes flicked to him, staring at him intensely through the glass. Cloud stopped, caught in those mesmerizing, slit-pupiled orbs. They were challenging him, daring him to walk through the door. He was horrified to discover that they still had the same affect on him as they did in the past. He’d always assumed that the general’s gaze didn’t affect him that way anymore after the Nibelheim incident because his feelings for the man had changed, but now he realized it was because he’d never actually been looking into the eyes of the real Sephiroth during those other encounters.

Clenching his jaw, Cloud forced himself into action and opened the door. The doctor turned at the sound and greeted him politely, but Cloud hardly heard him. His Mako blue eyes stayed locked on Sephiroth’s green ones, holding steady under the test of wills. He was doing well until the general spoke.

“Somehow, I thought you’d be taller by now…Cloud.” Sephiroth’s voice was deep and sensual, lazy and somehow intense at once. The subtle dark undertone lent an inhuman quality to it that Cloud realized for the first time hadn’t been present in any of the other Sephiroth incarnations he’d fought. The way his lips formed the blonde’s name and the deliberately caressing tone was enough to make the doctor pause and wonder what sort of relationship the two of them really had in the past.

Cloud’s gaze wavered under the assault of Sephiroth’s voice. His heart thundered and his body tingled with a thrill of both lust and danger. The silver swordsman’s lips curved into a subtle, smug smile and Cloud knew exactly why the other man used such a caressing tone. He intended to make him uncomfortable and nervous. Cloud doubted that Sephiroth knew the true affect it had on him.

“I’ll just give the two of you some privacy,” the doctor said tactfully. He left the room quickly, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the confrontation he feared was about to happen.

“Sephiroth,” Cloud greeted with a nod. He was proud that his voice was so steady and even. “Do you understand your situation?”

“Ah, yes. You’re trying to take Hojo’s place and keep me on a leash,” Now Sephiroth’s voice oozed with venom. “I must say I’m impressed that someone who started out as a grunt under my command has the balls to try.”

“That isn’t what I’m trying to do,” Cloud countered. “You’ve been found criminally insane and it was either this or death. I’m willing to try and leave the past behind to make this work, but you’ve got to meet me halfway.”

“You should have killed me,” Sephiroth answered. Cloud saw the anger broiling beneath the green eyes and he couldn’t blame him.

“Well, I didn’t. Now you’ve got a choice to either work with me or piss your chances away. There are things you don’t know about, Sephiroth. At least let me show them to you before you choose suicide.”

The silver-haired man frowned and tilted his head slightly to one side, cat-like in his curiosity. “I’m to believe that a cadet somehow uncovered information that I was unable to find myself? Cloud, you are amusing.”

“What have you got to lose?” Cloud challenged.

Sephiroth gave him a slow smile and Cloud wondered if the man was even aware of how sensual it was. “It could be interesting to hear what you’ve fabricated, if nothing else,” Sephiroth admitted. “I accept your challenge, for now.”

~*******************************~

-To be continued