Chapter Text
Every night Cloud dreams the same dream of Nibelheim burning. For as long as he could remember this same dream plagued him. This haunting nightmare instilled a terrible fear of fire. Sometimes the harsh winters were unbearable when Cloud would scream in terror when the fireplace was going.
Nothing could be done with these dreams. His mother long ago gave up seeking any remedies for this. There were times Cloud begged and cried for them to move. To leave Nibelheim before she burned with the village. But no amount of begging could change her mind.
Then at the age of ten everything changed.
There were posters of the new generation of Soldiers. Soon as Cloud laid eyes on a Soldier six years older than him, something snapped. Those eyes, the silver hair, they matched the person responsible. For six days Cloud was a silent shadow. Everyone within the village noticed, for usually he was never this quiet for this long. For many this was a relief. Cloud was often fighting with the other boys his age.
On the early morning of the seventh day, hours before dawn, Cloud decided to head to the mako reactor. He didn't understand why he had to go there. Only that he should. But then he reached the bridge that gave out a few years prior.
Cloud stood before it. His hate for this bridge boiled over in his veins. He hadn't been strong enough to hold on. And Tifa almost died because of how weak he was. All because of this stupid bridge giving out under their feet.
The tiny ten year old took a deep breath. Then he let out a roar to unleash his anger. It was either this or do something stupid and destroy the bridge. The pull towards the reactor was stronger than his fury. And once it was all out of his system Cloud continued towards his destination.
When he finally reached the reactor, Cloud stood in front of the metal door. How was this the point that his bravery wavered? It was too late to turn back now. Not when he stood at the door. The only logical reason was to continue forward.
Cloud took a deep breath to settle his nerves. Then before he could think about changing his mind, tiny hands opened the door. Cautiously, Cloud went inside.
Later, he couldn't recall much of what transpired afterwards. Only flashes of a name. JENOVA. A possible body of some sort. Broken glass everywhere. Blood mixed in with glowing green and oozing purple liquid.
Cloud didn't even know how he got back to the village. Or when, for that matter. But Cloud did start coming to as the flames engulfed all of the buildings. He could only stare. This couldn't be real.
But the heat was scorching. Already the summers eve was barely cool enough to ease the day's hot weather. The flames danced with a suffocating thickness. All around people were moving in panic. Yet Cloud remained frozen as he watched.
The heat stung his eyes. Lungs wheezing the longer Cloud stood frozen. The destruction was both terrifying and beautiful. It was only when Cloud registered the stinging from the cuts and scratches did his brain register that this wasn't a dream.
Inside his house his mother perished. Cloud didn't have to witness her death up close to know. The roof collapsed as she searched in panic for him, not knowing that he was outside. And just like that his home, his mother, everything was gone.
His cry echoed over the roar of the flames.
"About fourty minutes ago Nibelheim Reactor was turned offline. In addition about twenty minutes ago there has been several panicked calls from the village. Before anyone can understand what was going on, the lines went dead. All attempts to reach any communications have failed."
It was late into the evening when the news was brought to the president. The man frowned at the implications. A terrorist group? An accident? This wasn't anything normal by any means.
"Send the best upcoming Soldiers with your second in command to investigate."
"Yes, Sir." Veld took his leave.
Within the hour, Sephiroth tiredly climbed into the helicopter. He briefly made an expression at the sight of Angeal and what he assumed to be Genesis. It was still unfair that Angeal was considered Sephiroth's superior.
Before Angeal could address the emotion, Sephiroth silently sat down and promptly pretended to fall asleep. Although some sleep would do him good, the young promising Soldier was too wide awake after the rude call for action. Still he could at least rest his mind to prepare for whatever hell they were about to walk into. He expected something drastic.
The mission details were unsettling enough that not even the other two Soldiers bothered to make small talk. A rare occurrence when it came to Angeal. He always made a point to be friendly in his attempts to befriend Sephiroth.
It was a long and awkward ride of silence. Tseng alerted them as they approached the village. The aircraft just had to clear around the bend of another mountain.
"I see smoke." Tseng didn't like it.
The three Soldiers all glanced out the windows. They could see the smoke as they rounded the mountainside. It looked like every building had caught on fire. There were no signs of movement.
Then as the helicopter lowered to land in the center by the water tower, the smoke cleared enough to see two children. A girl curled up on the water tower. A boy stood unmoving as he watched the last remaining embers of a burnt house.
"Two survivors around the ages of ten." Tseng identified. The navigator landed carefully beside the water tower.
The Turk was the first to open the door to exit. Behind him the three Soldiers followed. While Tseng focused solely on the survivors, the boys all glanced around. They all wondered what happened here. The whole village was burnt to ashes. The only building to withstand the destruction looked to be an abandoned manor that was further away from the village.
The girl was the first to react. She looked up, startled, clearing away the sleepiness in her eyes before she stood up. Eyes wide with fear and suspicion. It was clear she had yet to pull herself out of the nightmare state. None of the visitors could blame her mind state with the sight of the destruction around them.
"Excuse me, young miss. My name is Tseng. These fine Soldiers are Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. We are here to answer the frightened calls the previous night. My apologies for our tardiness, we sped here as fast as we could." Tseng spoke softly and kindly, a means to ease the young girl.
"M-My name is Tifa. Tifa Lockhart." Her voice trembled. Still she felt safe enough to climb down to meet them.
"Lockhart? Was your father the mayor?" Tseng recognized the surname.
"Y-Yeah." She nodded.
"I hate to ask you of this, but can you explain what happened?"
"I... I don't know! Everything happened so fast! My dad was running around trying his best to save everyone! He told me to stay on the water tower so long as it didn't catch on fire!" Fresh tears raced down her young face.
"My sincerest apologies." Tseng knelt down to be eye level to her. "I can't imagine how that must have been like."
"Do you happen to know how this tragedy all started?"
Tifa shook her head. She must be overwhelmed to not be able to speak. A choked cry escaped as more tears flooded. Tifa tried her best to wipe them, but the ashes that clung to her arms did little to help. Tseng offered her a clean cloth he used to cover his cough. This hadn't been used yet so it was safe. Tifa used it to clean her face to stop the stinging.
"Who is he?" Sephiroth gestured to the boy.
He was a scrawny ten year old wearing baggy shorts and two shirts a few sizes too big. The wild blond hair was tied in the back, but that did little to tame the spikes on the front. For the entire conversation the boy never turned around.
"His name is Cloud Strife. He... He would have nightmares of the village burning. All his life he dreamed of it." Tifa hiccupped.
"Of this same event?" Tseng questioned. The Soldiers glanced at each other with mixtures of suspicion and curiosity.
"I don't know? Most of the village wasn't fond of him. But they just didn't understand him! Or want to, everyone judged too harshly!"
The way she was defending the boy didn't have the effect Tifa intended. Sephiroth approached with careful steps in case he startled the boy. To his dismay Angeal took lead. One of his big hands gently squeezed Sephiroth's arm as he passed. Briefly the silver Soldier glared but he quickly placed a neutral mask to cover it.
"Hello? My name is Angeal Hewley. I'm a Soldier." Angeal spoke softly as he approached.
No response.
Angeal moved closer to stand beside the boy. Next to the Soldier, the blond was so tiny. When one of Angeal's giant hands gently shook a tiny shoulder did Cloud move. Slowly he looked up.
Sephiroth couldn't help but be captived by those deep blue eyes. There was something about them. Powerful, a stark contrast to the scrawny and tiny body. The moment of admiration passed too quickly. Those blues glanced towards Sephiroth. And suddenly the lost soul expression changed to hate.
Sephiroth went still. A rare moment for his heart to whisper danger. The hate was clear as the skies without a storm in sight. The emotion in those captivating eyes were burning as hot as what Sephiroth imagined the flames were when they consumed the village around them.
Angeal appeared confused and shocked. But Sephiroth's attention was solely on Cloud. Then the boy moved. He somehow lunged faster than Angeal anticipated when the Soldier attempted to grab him. But Cloud slipped away and continued towards Sephiroth. The intent was clear.
It didn't matter the boy was weaponless, Cloud was still willing to fight. To even the odds, Sephiroth refused to draw his sword. Calmly he blocked the swing. He was taken aback by the raw power behind the strike. But Sephiroth was stronger and held more training under his belt. In comparison Cloud was going by pure emotion.
That meant little when Cloud proved to be a challenge. Sephiroth found himself pushing towards his full strength as Cloud continued to attack. While the blond had no form to prove he had any training, the power behind his strikes had Sephiroth on edge. He wondered how a civilian, let alone a child, was proving to be a bigger challenge than Angeal.
"Stop playing with him!" Angeal noticed that Sephiroth wasn't taking the fight seriously to render Cloud immobile.
"He's better than you." Sephiroth retorted, not daring to break eye contact with the prettiest blue eyes he ever seen.
"That's impossible." Genesis spat.
"If he weren't dead set on me, I wouldn't mind letting you have a try to see for yourself." In reality, Sephiroth felt possessive. This was his fight. No one else should take part.
As if sensing Sephiroth wasn't taking this fight seriously, Cloud made an underhanded reach. Tiny fingers closed on Sephiroth's throat. With a snarl the Soldier gripped the thin arm before using it to toss Cloud flying. Tifa's scream could be heard, but Sephiroth paid her no attention as he followed up with his first attack. Up until this point he never made a move to retaliate. But that attempt at his throat was a mistake, crossing all boundaries. Civilian be damned.
Cloud didn't have time to block or roll. Sephiroth's training gave him an edge. His strike would have been true if Angeal hadn't moved fast enough to get between them. The bulkier teen blocked the punch. Sephiroth had poured enough of his power to force Angeal back a few inches. The heavier Soldier almost tumbled backwards over the blond, but luckily their legs didn't tangle in the aftermath.
"That's enough! He's a civilian, Sephiroth!" Angeal was furious.
"He gripped with the intent to kill!" Sephiroth snapped. Although the contact had been brief, he felt the way those fingers tightened in an attempt to squeeze hard enough to strangle.
"... He has bruises." Genesis pointed out.
Angeal did a double take. Sephiroth never bruised, let alone this fast. But the marks were clear on his pale skin. The marks matched the tiny hands of Cloud. Speaking of, the blond scrambled onto his feet to move around Angeal to continue his plight against Sephiroth.
This time Genesis moved. He casted Sleep. And Cloud succumbed to the spell. Sephiroth caught the blond before he collapsed and hit his head on the hard ground. As he held Cloud, it hit home just how tiny the boy was. Even to Sephiroth, who was the shortest of the three Soldiers.
"Maybe I should - " Angeal offered to take Cloud, but Sephiroth glared.
"You won't touch him!" Sephiroth couldn't explain why he felt possessive. To protect this boy even though seconds before Cloud had attempted to kill him.
"Sephiroth, take him into the helicopter. Angeal, see to the girl. Genesis, mind following me to gather evidence?" Tseng intervened the upcoming argument between the Soldiers.
Reluctantly the boys followed orders. Sephiroth carried his charge into the aircraft. He sat back in his original seat with the boy in his lap. Sephiroth held Cloud protectively even like this. He stared down at the slumbering face.
He is mine. Sephiroth vowed.