Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Zack thought it was a good sign when he entered the room to find Cloud playing with the toys. Zack stopped and watched him with a smile, happy to see him acting like a child for once. Maybe Genesis had been onto something after all when he'd bragged that he'd bribe Cloud to finally starting listening to them...

Then he heard what Cloud was saying. 

"Sephiroth, you monster, we're here to kill you!" Cloud said, making one of the action figures jump, before picking up another one and putting on a different voice. "It's time for you to pay for what you did to my family and my hometown!" Then he made all his action figures surround the Sephiroth action figure, each of them shouting at him. 

Cloud hadn't been shy about his hatred of Sephiroth, but the pure hate in his voice as he talked the Sephiroth figure when he thought he was alone...

 Zack cleared his throat.

Cloud looked up at him. "Oh, hey Zack. I found a use for the toys. " He made the two he was holding jump repeatedly on the Sephiroth figure, smirking, before looking up at Zack again. "Do you want to help me kill Sephiroth?" He asked hopefully. 

Zack shook his head, mind stumbling over words. How could he convince Cloud that Shinra wasn't the bad guys?

Cloud had already pointed out that Wutai were the good guys in the war. They just wanted to defend their home and their people, while the Soldiers only wanted to get paid, and Shinra only wanted to steal Wutai's resources. 

Zack tried to think of something to say as he walked over to Cloud and sat next to him. 

"Zack, it's okay," Cloud said reassuringly. He reached up and ruffled his hair as if he was the child and Cloud was the adult. "You're young still and you have a lot of growing up to do. That's normal. I just hope Shinra lets you have the time you need..."

Later on, after Genesis defected and Angeal wound up following him, Zack remembered Cloud's words...

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The first thing he was aware of was two voices talking quietly. Two voices that sounded upset...

The second was that his whole body hurt.

What stupid thing had he done that his whole body hurt? 

His eyes opened slightly and he frowned as he stared at the ceiling. Why couldn't he remember...?

A sob distracted him and he tilted his head to see a blonde woman trying to comfort a little dark haired girl.

"It's my fault," the little girl - Tifa- sobbed. "If I hadn't gone up on the mountain, then Cloud wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

"Cloud followed you up on the mountain because he cared about you and didn't want anything to happen to you," the blonde woman -his mother - said firmly. "Yes, you shouldn't have gone up on the mountain, but you're just a little girl, and you were grieving your mama. And now you know better, don't you?" 

Tifa nodded and was hugged. 

"Don't worry," Mom reassured Tifa, "Cloud will wake up soon and when he does, he'll be happy to see you're alright -"

"Yeah..." Cloud managed and was rewarded by seeing both of them beam at him as they rushed towards him ...

...

Both of them got scolded by multiple people about being reckless and not thinking things through, but each scolding was quickly followed by a flood of reassurances that they were very happy that they were okay.

"We just don't want anything to happen to you," they were told, and Cloud himself was quietly praised for being brave and sticking by Tifa's side and for protecting her- before quickly repeating that was wisdom was just as good as bravery -

Tifa has always cherished her friendship with Cloud, but now she had respect for his courage and his loyalty, and showed that she shared that loyalty by staying by his side as he recovered.

She brought him flowers to brighten his room and told him stories to lighten his mood.

This caused them to become even closer. And when Cloud learned about Sephiroth, he quickly forgot about him because Tifa was the one who told him, and she told him about how everyone said that Sephiroth was very good looking, "but Mama and I thought that when you grow up, you'll be even more beautiful." And then she kissed his cheek.

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It was dinner time and Cloud refused to sit still, refused to eat, and refused to stop glaring at Sephiroth like he was the worst monster on the Planet. 

"Oh, knock it off!" Genesis snapped, fed up, before smirking as he got an idea. He picked Cloud up, paying no attention to how the blonde made a disgusted face and tried to wiggle away. He knew that Cloud didn't like it but he needed to get over it! He was theirs now, and they would touch him as much as they liked. Genesis was sure Cloud would come to enjoy it as much as they did soon. 

Proud of his brilliant plan, Genesis put Cloud into Sephiroth's arms. 

Cloud, froze, wide eyed like a mouse that had been spotted by a cat. 

"See? Look, we're a family here, and you need to accept that."

Just as Sephiroth was starting to smile, Cloud slammed his forehead into Sephiroth's nose. 

Cloud smashed his forehead into Sephiroth's face again and again, paying no attention to Genesis and Angeal. When they tried to pull him off, he grabbed onto Sephiroth's coat to able to keep damaging him as much as possible. 

Blood was everywhere by the time they finally pulled him, and later they'd find out they'd broken more than one of his fingers to do so. 

"That's what I think of your family, monster," Cloud said coldly as Angeal held him so tightly he couldn't move. 

Chapter Text

It felt good to be...well, not home again. 

Nibelheim had been home, and then later, Edge had been home. As always, Cloud's heart hurt worse than a stabbing from Sephiroth as he thought of his lost life, and of his lost wife and children, but he yanked his attention back to the present.

Even though Cloud hadn't spent much time in Sector Seven before the Turks had destroyed it, it was a place that held fond memories for him. It was where he had met Tifa again, where he'd met Barret and Marlene, and-

The door opened and Cloud looked up to see Jessie and Wedge re-enter.

"Welcome back," Biggs said from where he was sitting next to Cloud. "How'd it go?"

"It went great!" Wedge said, beaming, though Cloud noticed both his and Jessie's eyes went to the food and drink they'd insisted on putting in front of him. 

Cloud knew that he looked like a kid, but if it would be great if he could forget for one moment that he'd lost the respect that adults were given along with everything else that he'd lost. He hated being treated like a "cute" kid.

Still, the Avalanche trio were doing their best, and they'd at least taken him seriously and taken the information he'd given them to the other branches of Avalanche.

It was nice to be treated like a person with a brain instead of the brain dead idiot way Shinra treated him. Still, the Soldiers's refusal to take him seriously had made it easier to sneak away and meet with up with his friends.

Avalanche also respected the fact that he was touchy about touch instead of ignoring his boundaries and putting their hands all over him, like he was an object instead of a person with feelings. 

He wished the Avalanche could stop looking concerned about the fact that he'd only nibbled the meat bun and sipped the water. He knew that it was just that they were worried about him, but ...

As great as it was to be in Sector Seven again, not to mention out of Shinra Tower, he couldn't forget about the Plate falling. And that made him think about how Nibelheim had burned around Sephiroth-

Jessie clapped her hands and turned to Cloud with a smile. "You're so helpful! I think it's time to celebrate with a pizza!"

Both guys cheered, but Cloud's expression became more dour.  

"Sorry," he told them reluctantly, "but I need to get back to Shinra Tower."

"What? No, it's not safe-"  

"I know," Cloud said, cutting Jessie short, before doing his best to smile at her gently. "But if I stay here, it won't be safe for you. Sephiroth and his buddies will come after me. Besides, maybe I can get more info-"

"No Cloud, don't worry about that," Biggs said, coming forward. He almost put his hands on his shoulders before he visibly remembered that Cloud didn't like being touched. "Focus on staying safe. The Planet is important, but so are you. Don't do anything reckless."

"Yeah, bro!" Wedge agreed quickly. "We appreciate the info and we'd love to hang out with you everyday, but we'd hate it if anything happened to you!"   

"If I can, I'll bring you more info-" It was Cloud's turn to be interrupted as all three members of Avalanche hurried to express concern for Cloud and no interest in any information, no matter how useful.

Crazy plans were quickly proposed for protecting him, from dying his hair to smuggling him out of the city.

Cloud knew he'd have to break their bubble soon, but he allowed himself this brief moment, relishing in the concern they were showing for him-

But he did put his foot down when Jessie proposed hiding him as a girl.