Disclaimer: Final Fantasy belongs to Squaresoft and various other interested parties, not me. I'm not making any money from this, and no infringement of copyright is intended. This is a work of fandom, intended as appreciation of the original work.

Chapter 26

It didn't turn out to be quite as simple as Sephiroth had implied. Cloud had to fight his airsickness the whole way back to Midgar, of course, desperately not wanting to embarrass himself in front of Sephiroth. As soon as they touched down in Midgar they found themselves hustled away by the Turks who were waiting for them there. When Cloud tried to ask Zack what was going on, the Turk who had him by the arm shook him and ordered him to be quiet.

Frightened again, Cloud swallowed and fell silent. Looking around he could see that the highest concentration of Turks was around Dr. Lins, and that Sephiroth didn't look terribly happy about it. The Turks weren't under Sephiroth's control, though, so there wasn't much the general could do about it.

They took him to what was unmistakably a cell, somewhere high up in the Shinra tower. There were two bunks in it, but when they closed the door behind him he was alone in the room.

For a long moment Cloud just stood there in the dimly lit room, his heart pounding as he listened to the muffled noises coming through the door. He could hear more doors slamming shut, and low voices as either the Turks or the Shinra guards took up their stations outside.

"Cloud?" a familiar voice called, sounding like it came from the right. "Cloud, you there? Are you okay?"

"Zack!" he exclaimed, and all but threw himself against the door. It was solid, no way to see out into the corridor, but apparently it wasn't thick enough to keep them from hearing each other. "I'm okay, but what's..."

"No talking!" a harsh voice barked, and something slammed against Cloud's door. He jumped back, startled, and the guard moved away again.

There was no question that they were being treated as prisoners. Whatever Sephiroth had said in his report back to Shinra, it had caused them to decide to put Zack and Cloud on trial after all. Sometimes, being in the army, it was easy to forget that Sephiroth wasn't actually the final authority in these matters. Their only hope now was if Dr. Lins didn't attempt to implicate them in revenge, or better yet if the scientist admitted the truth about Marek.

Sweating with fear and trying not to shake, Cloud stretched out on one of the hard bunks and stared up at the ceiling. It was still only about mid-day or early afternoon back in the desert, but it had been late night in Midgar when they'd landed. After everything that had happened that day Cloud was exhausted, but he was also too keyed up to sleep.

What was going to happen to them now? It was going to be their word against, well, everyone else's. Everyone who would testify that Marek had been a good captain, well liked and respected among the troops and SOLDIERs alike. Everyone who would swear that there was no way they could ever believe that Marek had been the traitor.

Thinking like this was going to get him nowhere, Cloud knew. There was nothing he could do about it now, and if he worked himself into a nervous fit then he wasn't exactly going to seem believable in court.

He'd chosen the right-hand bunk to lie on, just to make him feel a little closer to Zack. On impulse he reached out and knocked softly on the wall, just once.

Almost immediately there was another knock in return. It was quickly followed by a warning thump on the door by the guard, but Cloud hadn't intended to try actual communication this way. It was enough just to know that Zack was right there on the other side of the wall.

If he closed his eyes and imagined hard, he could almost convince himself he was back in B platoon's barrack. Lying in his bunk there, he'd never been able to see Zack either, but the older boy's presence was always there just above him.

That had been a simpler time, when he and Zack were both just privates together and still full of dreams of taking SOLDIER by storm. He wished they could go back to that, to the days when they hadn't had to struggle just to find time to be together, let alone time alone together. Back before Zack had been forced to treat Cloud like he was breakable, because he was breakable. Before there had been that anguished look deep in Zack's eyes every time he looked at Cloud.

One hand pressed against the wall between them, Cloud drifted off to sleep with memories of that time firmly in his mind. He just had to hold on to that sense of peace until the trial, somehow.

It was three days before the Turks finally came for him, and by then Cloud really was a nervous wreck. He and Zack had never been allowed to speak to each other in all that time, nor had they been permitted to ask their guards about what was going on outside. For all Cloud knew, Dr. Lins had already been tried and named them as his accomplices. He was pretty sure Zack had been taken to testify the day before, but that was all he knew.

Someone had told him once that civilians had to wait weeks or even months before their trial would come up in court. Cloud couldn't imagine having to wait that long, if he was already this nervous after just three days. Thank Bahamut the military's unofficial motto of 'hurry up and wait' didn't extend to courts martial.

It wasn't what he'd expected. Cloud's only experience with courts up to that point had been on TV or in the movies, with a judge and jury set up in a fancy room. The court martial was simply a group of high-ranking officers and Shinra officials lined up at a table, and one smaller table across from them where the prosecutor and his assistant sat. There was no jury and no witnesses, no elaborate stand for the judges. There wasn't even a 'defence', simply the captain who was to serve as the prosecution and examine the witnesses.

At the long table Cloud was startled to realize he recognized most of the people. Heidigger was there, and President Shinra. A blonde woman Cloud had never seen before and who looked terribly out of place in an evening gown sat beside the president, and on her other side was Dr. Hojo. Sephiroth sat next to Heidigger, his face as expressionless as if he was on parade. Cloud could take no comfort or reassurance from him. The last two were the head of the SOLDIERs and the head of the troops, Sephiroth's two second-in-commands.

That, more than anything, scared Cloud. Usually courts martial were conducted with officers no higher than perhaps a major as the judges. High-ranking officials like this didn't have the time to waste on military policing problems. Of course, they were probably here more for Dr. Lins' trial than for Zack and Cloud, but their presence was still more than a little intimidating.

The Turks led Cloud to stand to one side, so that everyone would be able to see him. He saluted towards Sephiroth from sheer habit, and for some reason that made Heidigger, the president and the strange woman chuckle. Sephiroth merely nodded. "At ease, corporal," the general murmured, his voice as neutral as his expression. Cloud moved to parade rest, staring straight ahead at the opposite wall and not letting himself look at either the judges or the two military lawyers.

"State your name, rank and company for the record," the prosecutor said.

It took Cloud two tries before his voice would work, and it still cracked embarrassingly when he spoke. "Cloud Strife, corporal, omega company," he replied, still not looking away from the wall.

"In your own words, corporal, report on the events that occurred three days ago in the Gold Saucer desert," the prosecutor ordered him.

This time Cloud's voice didn't break, though it did shake a little as he went through the story once again. Three days with nothing to do but think had given him a lot of time to go over it all in his mind, trying to keep the details sharp so he wouldn't forget some bit of information that would be crucial to proving their innocence.

It was a long story, made longer by the fact that the prosecutor continually interrupted him with questions. How had he known the sandstorm was coming? How exactly had they come across the ravine? Why hadn't anyone previously discovered its existence? Why had he and Zack split up? What made him decide to hide and listen to the conversation? Could he confirm that Captain Marek was definitely the man who had spoken to Dr. Lins? What exactly had the captain said to him?

On and on, until Cloud's voice was cracking from dryness rather than fear. The judges' reactions, when Cloud dared to glance at them, covered a range of emotions. Sephiroth and his 2ICs remained impassive; Heidigger seemed to find the whole thing one big joke, and the unknown woman was amused by it all as well. The president seemed bored more than anything, and distracted as if his mind was elsewhere. Hojo...

Hojo made Cloud nervous, even more so than usual. The scientist was watching everything as if he was examining a new and somewhat unpleasant sample on a slide under a microscope.

Finally he'd made it through the whole story, answering the prosecutor's questions as best he could. When they reached the end Cloud breathed a quiet sigh of relief that he'd managed to get through it all without tripping over himself or making it sound like he was making everything up.

Unfortunately, he'd relaxed too soon. "Corporal," the prosecutor said as he studied Cloud, "you said the captain claimed to be helping Dr. Lins in an effort to return the SOLDIER program to its former position of glory, is that correct?"

Struggling to remember Marek's exact words, Cloud cleared his throat. He'd been a bit too caught up in the fact that he was probably about to die to memorize Marek's speech word for word. "He said the standards for SOLDIER had fallen to the point where he was almost ashamed to call himself one," he replied, "and that being able to save people from the monsters would make being a SOLDIER mean something again."

"A logical fallacy if I've ever heard one, but then from the way you describe him he was clearly not sane." The lawyer smiled, an oily kind of smile that made Cloud even more nervous. "Interesting that none of his psych profiles ever showed evidence of such a thing."

Not sure if that was a question or not, Cloud chose not to answer. What could he say? Obviously Marek had been very good at hiding his instability. He had been a good captain; there was a reason his troops liked him so much. But it was his very dedication to his troops and to SOLDIER in general that had caused him to regard Cloud and Zack as such a threat to what he saw as the declining standards of the Shinra military that he was so proud of.

"You also claim that Captain Marek implied that he deliberately set 1st Lieutenant Zack up to receive his mako injections too early," the prosecutor continued smoothly. Cloud blinked. Had he said that? It made sense, now that it had been pointed out to him. Marek had mentioned not being able to rid himself of Zack directly, and they knew conclusively now that Marek had been aware that Zack had been a SOLDIER for less than a year. Surely he'd known about the potential consequences of receiving the second injections too early.

"Yes sir, I guess he did imply that," Cloud agreed. It made him even more angry at the captain, that he could have deliberately inflicted that kind of agony on Zack.

"And then he went after you when he was unable to rid himself of the lieutenant," the prosecutor continued, and Cloud nodded. "So basically you're saying that the captain had it in for the two of you, specifically."

"Yes, sir," Cloud agreed again, cautiously. The man was too smug, there was some kind of trap here that Cloud wasn't seeing. "It does seem that way."

"Tell me, corporal. And please remember that your oath of service to Shinra compels you to speak the truth in this court. Are you or have you ever been involved in an inappropriate relationship with Lieutenant Zack, your commanding officer?"

Choking at the unexpected question, Cloud broke parade rest and turned his head to stare at the man. "What?" Even in his first report to Sephiroth, Cloud had said that Marek had referred to him as Zack's 'friend' rather than the far too incriminating 'boytoy'. Besides which, Cloud had been certain he would never be able to get that word out without dying of embarrassment.

Still smiling, the prosecutor repeated his question. "Are you and the lieutenant engaging in sexual relations, corporal? It's a simple yes or no question."

Cloud's mind spun in frantic little circles, and he stared helplessly back at the man. If he told the truth, Zack could be facing a whole new set of charges. Homosexual activities of any kind were officially strongly frowned upon by the military, though in practice Zack and Cloud were hardly the first squadmates to fool around. Fraternizing with a subordinate was an entirely different and much more serious matter, however. The moment Zack had been promoted to SOLDIER his relationship with Cloud had become strictly illegal by Shinra's rules.

Worse, what if they'd asked Zack the same question? If Zack had lied and convinced them and then Cloud turned around and told the truth, it would make things worse still for Zack. On the other hand if Zack had admitted it and Cloud tried to bluff, it would show Cloud up as a liar and nothing else he'd said would be given credit.

Standing there staring stupidly wasn't helping his case, either. Finally Cloud decided there was only one thing he could do that he would be able to live with later. Drawing himself back into a textbook parade rest position, he answered the question. "Yes, sir." He wasn't ashamed of what he and Zack had done together, and he wouldn't act like it. Hopefully they either hadn't asked Zack, or he had also told the truth. Cloud was pretty sure he would have, for the same reasons Cloud was doing it now.

There weren't any shocked or scandalized murmurs from the judges' table, at least. That probably meant they were already aware of it, one way or another, and if Cloud had lied they'd have known it. That made him feel marginally better.

"Then isn't it true, corporal, that the real reason you killed Captain Marek was because he knew of or was close to discovering your relationship, and you didn't want him to report it to Shinra?" the prosecutor asked.

"Huh?" Cloud looked at him again, completely shocked at the very idea. The prosecutor was already continuing, ploughing right over Cloud's sputtered attempts at denial.

"Captain Marek was in fact out investigating the ravine when you came across him that day, wasn't he corporal?" the man demanded, not giving Cloud a chance to answer. "You encountered him just after discovering Dr. Lins in the ravine, and decided it was a prime opportunity to rid yourself of him. Didn't you?"

Finally Cloud found his voice. "Sir, no sir," he said, and this time his voice was shaking with outrage. "I'm fairly certain Captain Marek did know about us, sir. If he was going to report us for it, he'd have done it a long time ago."

"So why didn't he, then?" the prosecutor asked with a raised eyebrow. "If he had it in for the two of you, as you claim. Surely that would have been a convenient way to rid himself of you."

"I... I don't know, sir," Cloud admitted. "Maybe because something like that would have just lowered public opinion of SOLDIERs even further. Or maybe it wasn't personal enough."

"You're not here to speculate, corporal, just to answer questions," the lawyer told him. "You can't give a concrete reason why he would have failed to report your relationship if he'd already known about it and had it in for you as you claim, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," Cloud was forced to say.

Satisfied, the man nodded. "Dismissed, corporal. Take him back to the cell block," he ordered the Turks.

Cloud's heart felt like it had sunk to about the level of his feet as the Turks not-so-gently 'guided' him back to the cell level. It was just as he'd feared; the idea that Captain Marek was the mole was too farfetched for people to believe in. Much easier to believe that Cloud and Zack had killed the man for their own reasons and then attempted to cover it up by taking the opportunity to claim Marek was the informant.

To his surprise, however, the Turks led him to Zack's cell instead of his own. "Cloud!" the older boy exclaimed as the door slammed shut again behind him, and Zack caught him in a hug.

"What?" Cloud replied intelligently, trying to figure out what was going on. "Why'd they put me in here?" Not that he was complaining. He wrapped his arms around Zack in turn and clung tightly, half afraid the Turks would realize they'd made a mistake and come to remove him again.

"I convinced them there was no reason to keep separating us now that they didn't have to worry about us 'getting our stories straight'," Zack said as he pulled back with a grin.

"What did you have to bribe them with?" Cloud asked suspiciously.

"Bribe them?" Zack gave him an innocent look. "What makes you think they didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts?"

"Zack, they're Turks," Cloud replied in exasperation. Zack laughed, and tugged him over to one of the bunks.

"Zack! They're probably watching us," Cloud protested when the older boy tried to get him to sit with his back to Zack's chest, cradled between Zack's legs.

"So? They already know," Zack shrugged. "Didn't they ask you about us? You didn't try to lie, did you?"

"No, I told the truth," Cloud said, sighing with relief that Zack had apparently done the same. He relaxed and let Zack pull him down into the embrace, tilting his head back to rest it on the older boy's shoulder as Zack's arms closed around him. It was times like this that he was a little glad he was still smaller than Zack. This wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable if they'd been the same size.

"Me, too," Zack confirmed. "I figured they wouldn't have bothered asking unless they had proof of it anyway. Besides, the worst they can do to me for sleeping with you is a dishonourable discharge, not jail. That's something Sephiroth does have final say on, and I don't think he'd sign off on it. He's known about us since the glacier, I'm pretty sure, and he's never seemed to disapprove."

Closing his eyes, Cloud breathed deeply of the scent of his best friend and tried to forget the fact that they were locked in a cell and possibly facing murder charges. "I just hope this whole mess doesn't kill my chances of getting into SOLDIER," he said. "Even if they acquit us, it could still be a pretty big black mark on my record. And it's Heidigger that has final say about SOLDIER, isn't it?"

"Him and Hojo, yeah," Zack agreed. He sighed, his chest rising and falling beneath Cloud and his breath stirring Cloud's hair. "But Sephiroth's word carries a hell of a lot of weight. One thing Marek was right about; with all the monsters around the SOLDIERs really are going to be necessary again. They'll need everyone they can get."

His voice turned apologetic. "Cloud, I never got a chance..."

"Don't," Cloud cut him off firmly, thumping him on the thigh with one fist. Zack made a startled noise, and Cloud shook his head. "You think I don't know what you were about to say? Don't apologize about me missing the exams. Even if I'd left you to go write it, I'd still have failed because I'd have been too busy worrying about you to be able to concentrate."

"But that's still my fault," Zack murmured, burying his face in Cloud's hair. "I..."

"Stop it!" Exasperated, Cloud thumped him again, harder this time. Twisting so he could look up at the older boy, Cloud glared at him. "Just stop, Zack. The only thing you're going to do by dragging around being sorry about it is to keep rubbing my nose in the fact that it happened at all. Do you want me to end up as bitter and morose about it as I was last year when I failed? Like you told me then, there's always next year, right?"

"Yeah, but now I'm 2nd Class, and even stronger than I was before," Zack said. "If I hurt you again, I'll never forgive myself."

"We managed before, we'll be fine now," Cloud said firmly. "So just stop bringing it up, and stop looking at me like you're afraid I'm going to resent you. You're too important to me for me to let something like this make me hate you."

Impulsively Zack hugged him tight, though he was still careful not to hurt Cloud. "See? What did I tell you from the very start? I knew I needed you around to knock me over the head when I'm doing something stupid." He laughed softly.

"You need somebody to do it, anyway," Cloud muttered, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "You're just lucky you're almost as good at talking yourself out of trouble as you are at talking your way into it in the first place."

"Yeah. Hopefully that luck holds in this situation," Zack grimaced. There was nothing to say to that, so Cloud laid his head back on Zack's shoulder and stayed quiet.

They sat there like that for a long time, just enjoying each other's presence in a way they didn't often have a chance to do. When the door finally opened and interrupted them, Cloud assumed it was the guard bringing their meals.

Instead he felt Zack go tense against him, and when Cloud glanced up he was shocked to see none other than the Silver General standing in the cell doorway.

"General Sephiroth!" They both scrambled to their feet and snapped him a salute, which he returned.

"At ease," Sephiroth said, and they went to parade rest. Cloud's heart was pounding in his chest again, so hard he was almost surprised it didn't burst right out of him.

"The court martial has been concluded," Sephiroth continued, and Cloud tensed further. "The evidence was sufficient to convict Dr. Lins as the perpetrator of the monsters spreading, and Captain Marek as the informant."

Beside him Cloud heard Zack let his breath out in a rush, as if the older boy had been holding it. The sound reminded Cloud that it would probably be a good idea if he started breathing again too, and he had to stifle a gasp. Sephiroth smiled slightly.

"Does that mean we've been acquitted of all charges, sir?" Zack asked boldly.

"Not exactly," Sephiroth replied. "Captain Marek's death has been determined to be self defence on your parts. Certain... other matters brought up during the investigation are still outstanding, however."

Wincing mentally, Cloud prepared himself for the worst. Zack was going to be facing another court martial for his relationship with Cloud after all.

To his surprise, Sephiroth's next words weren't a formal charge against Zack. "The entire matter has been classified at the highest level, of course," the general informed them. "In order to preserve public opinion of Shinra and the SOLDIERs, Shinra can't afford to let this become public knowledge. Officially, none of this ever happened. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Zack said gladly, saluting again.

It took Cloud a moment longer to work through it, but he finally got what the general was getting at. If none of it had ever officially happened, then they couldn't use Zack and Cloud's admissions in the court martial against them. After all, according to the record, there had never been any admissions. Zack couldn't be prosecuted on the basis of what had happened during the trial.

"Yes, sir," he echoed Zack, saluting as well. They would all have to continue acting as if nobody knew the truth about him and Zack, but so long as they did so there would be no reprisals against them.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my promise about getting the two of you leave," Sephiroth said. "There's been a minor insurgence in one of the southern parts of Wutai, a group of rebels the government claims to have no knowledge of. We'll be heading out as soon as the two of you have collected your gear."

With that he turned and left, leaving Cloud staring after him. "We?" he repeated weakly, shocked. "We get court martialed for killing our CO, and end up under Sephiroth's direct command?" He'd been expecting to be assigned to the worst duties for quite a while as a result of all this, maybe even to be split up from Zack.

"Who else would take us?" Zack shrugged, grinning. "Acquitted or not, a lot of the 1st Class will be nervous about having us in their command for a while. This way he doesn't have to split us up, or put us under the command of someone who doesn't want us."

"But...!" Cloud shook his head, unable to come up with a coherent objection. "Working directly with Sephiroth? That's... we're... holy shit, Zack!"

"I know," Zack agreed, his eyes sparkling with more than just the mako glow. "Now come on, let's not keep him waiting. And I for one am sick of these four walls!"

He grabbed Cloud around the shoulders and ruffled the younger boy's hair vigorously, despite Cloud's protests and the fist he got in the ribs in response. Laughing, Zack finally released him and ducked out the door into the corridor, giving their surly-looking guard a jaunty wave as he passed.

There was nothing Cloud could do but follow him. He didn't think he would ever get used to Zack's seeming endless energy, but he wasn't sure he wanted to get used to it either. It was kind of nice to be surprised by it at times.

"Oh yeah! Happy birthday, kid," Zack said as they entered the elevator. When Cloud stared at him blankly, he chuckled. "You're really bad at keeping track of dates, aren't you? Congratulations, you're finally old enough to sign up for the army."

"I am?" Cloud asked, bemused. Could it really be his birthday already? Trying to add up the days in his head just got him hopelessly confused, but he supposed he could probably take Zack's word for it. So he was finally sixteen, and he wouldn't have to lie about his age any more.

"Should we stop by a recruiting office on our way out of town?" Zack teased him, still laughing. "After all, you've been waiting so patiently to be old enough..."

"Oh, stuff it," Cloud replied, shoving the bigger boy hard enough to make him stagger into the wall. He was laughing too, though. How could he not? There was something horribly funny about being assigned to Sephiroth's direct command on the day he should have been signing up for the first time. He'd already achieved more in his military career than most people ever would, and he hadn't even been officially old enough to be there.

Which just went to show that maybe he really was cut out for it, after all. He was as old now as Zack had been when they'd first met, hard as it was to believe. He might not have accomplished everything he'd wanted to when he set out from home, most notably that he wasn't a SOLDIER yet, but he still had time.

"Let's go," he said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. "We've got a mission to do."

"That's the spirit!" Zack exclaimed, clapping him on the shoulder as he stepped past Cloud out the door. "Race you to the SOLDIER compound!" He took off running before Cloud had a chance to answer.

Laughing, knowing there was no way he would ever be able to outrun a SOLDIER but not willing to just concede the race to Zack without even trying, Cloud chased after him. "You jerk! One of these days I'm going to beat you, and you won't be so smug then!"

"One of these days, I'm sure you will," Zack agreed over his shoulder with a grin. "And I'll be right there at your back to see it."

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

Return to Final Fantasy VII Page

Return to the Main Index

Email Miko no da