Title: Proper use of Knowledge, chapter 2
Rating: G
Pairing: C/Z/S
Summary: Cloud found Zack, now they go hunting for one last summon materia.
Note: Kinda rough again, more or less proofread.

The small man backed away slowly, his eyes darting from riders to chocobos and back as he tried to keep track of all the possible weapons displayed before him. His hand itching for the back of his belt –no doubt for some hidden dagger or something--, the guy tried for an innocent, friendly smile. It turned out sickly.

"You guys need some help?" he asked nervously. Zack heeled his gold a few steps closer, just to see the idiot squirm as his eyes flashed with panic.

"As a matter of fact, yeah. We're looking for something. Maybe you could give us a hand?"

"Su—sure," the little man stammered, trying again for that smile and not looking any more convincing. "What is it?"

"A materia," Cloud spoke before Zack could. The blond swung off his bird's back but looped the reins around the saddle. Hildr would know she could move and attack, then. Zack did the same, though he seriously doubted it'd come to that.

"I don't know much about materia," the man replied, and Zack commanded him for his more-or-less steady voice, but the way he suddenly hid his left forearm wasn't very subtle. No points for that.

"A red materia," Cloud continued, stepping just close enough to be in reach with Final Tsurugi. His arms were crossed, but Zack knew the stance. Cloud would be ready to move at a second's notice, especially when furious like that.

"I don't--!"

Zack sighed, cutting off the man as efficiently as if he'd swung his sword at him. Displaying a nonchalance he was far from feeling –Cloud wasn't the only one pissed as hell right now—Zack waved his hand to keep the idiot silent.

"Look, this is the story. You've just found a red materia, and it so happens to be ours. We'd like to have it back," he said with a measure of his anger sharpening the last of his words.

The man's smile slipped and was replaced by a snarl. "I'm the one who got it out of that pool, it's mine! Now scram before I shout down the village on your heads, thieves!"

Zack looked sideways at Cloud, catching a quick glance of his tightening eyes and jaw. He was going to pounce soon, he knew, and though Zack wasn't adverse to the idea himself, he'd like to avoid armed conflict if he could. Fighting villagers when you tried not to really injure any of them was harder than it appeared.

"If you knew where to find it, you knew we were watching over it. You just waited until we had our backs turned before grabbing it. It's too bad for you, but our backs are never turned for very long. Now hand it over," Zack ordered, extending his hand. There was no more fake amusement in his tone.

The thief swallowed audibly and did the very unwise move of backing away. "Don't step closer!" he yelled as Cloud moved forward. "I'm going to summon!" he threatened, finally brandishing his small, crappy bracer in which was shining the deep red of a summon materia.

As if he'd be able to summon anything with so little skills. Still, the guy had gone to the trouble of displaying the materia for them, Zack wasn't going to waste the opportunity. He was in the thief's face in two quick steps the other didn't even see and had a firm grip on his arm before he could even yelp in surprise.

"Sorry mate, but this is out of your league." The bracer was just cheap metal and snapped easily under his fingers. Zack tossed the precious materia at Cloud. "Thanks," he added with a fake, very cheerful smile for the thief as he let go of his arm.

"You bastards--!" the thief gasped, favoring his now bracer-less arm. So maybe Zack had bruised it a little as he took care of the bracer. It was nothing compared to what the smoldering, white-hot anger and fear in him had asked for, though.

Very purposefully, Cloud pushed his sleeve up to expose the small but very strong bracer cinched tight on his forearm. Cloud fitted the new summon materia besides Zack's own.

Finally understanding exactly what he was facing, the thief licked his lips, reconsidering the virtues of challenging them any further. With a final curse, he spun around and ran.

Zack watched until he was completely gone before heaving a deep sigh, feeling tension and anger and fear ebb out of his shoulders. He turned to Cloud, who had that glazed look he took whenever he was trying to figure out a new materia.

"So? How does it look?" he asked eagerly.

It had to be the right materia. Fifteen years, five of which were spent around this area, waiting and watching as the summon finished forming right in the mountainous region where Aerith had warned them it would be susceptible to appear. It had to be Sephiroth.

"I'll have to summon to know," Cloud said, shaking his head a little. "Let's get out of here."

"Right. That guy might just raise a mob after all," Zack said, a little amused, because he'd sure like seeing anybody try to chase down gold chocobos.

The village was lost in the shadows of a scraggly mountain chain on one side and opened up on rocky plains on the other. They made for the plains and hunted monsters by foot, since none of the usual local, pretty weak beasties were too keen on facing up against gold chocobos. Without them, it wasn't that long until they were attacked.

Zack didn't draw his sword as the pack of vaguely hedgehog-like creatures crawled towards them, spiked backs held up stiff. Instead he waited with baited breath and racing heart as Cloud concentrated and summoned. If it wasn't Sephiroth…well, he didn't know what he'd do, except start searching all over again. He didn't want to; fifteen years was a long time to wait, which was fucking ironic coming from an ageless summon.

His anticipation peeked when the magical energy was finally released. The sky overhead turned dark and ugly, thunder clapping angrily between the clouds. One particular bolt crashed all the way to the ground, blinding him, and when Zack could see again the summon was there before them, facing the now terrorized pack of monsters.

Trailing coat, long naked sword almost as tall as he was: it was Sephiroth as he raised his sword and brought it down in a sweeping arc that felled two monsters, then raised it again to execute seven more strikes with frightening precision and efficiency. The speed and effortlessness and grace were all the same and maybe more. Zack felt something tight knot itself around his guts as the last of the monsters were dispatched. It was Sephiroth, but was it going to be him, sane and whole?

However, before the last monster had finished falling in two separate pieces, Sephiroth faded out and was gone.

Zack cursed, hearing it echoed by Cloud. He turned to say something, but his friend was fixing the point where Sephiroth had been with an angry, determined expression.

"Oh no, you don't," he growled almost to himself, and summoned again.

There was the storm and thunder again, but before Sephiroth could realize there was no enemy he was duty-bound to attack, Cloud had stepped forward and into his personal space from behind. That would be suicidal in any other circumstances, but the general did not attack.

"Sephiroth, wait," Cloud said, and Sephiroth's shoulders tensed enough that it could have been the crack of a whip.

"You cannot prevent me from leaving." His voice was low and smooth and even, filled with bottled pain. Zack inhaled deeply, scared he might have interpreted it wrong.

"I'll just summon again, as many times as I need."

There was a moment of hesitation. "You might kill yourself."

"That won't happen if you don't go," Cloud reasoned, obstinate. Zack loved him so much at that moment.

"You know he's stubborn enough to actually do it," Zack said, approaching his old friend and lover almost tentatively. Was Jenova really gone? Sephiroth turned to watch him, watch them both, and his eyes were pinched in a pained, guilty expression that was alive. He had his answer.

"It would seem I have no choice." Sephiroth shook his head, but there was something like hope as he regarded them both, something pleading. Zack couldn't help a grin.

"Nope. Come on, let's head back to camp."

--

The camp site had been well chosen. It was nestled near a hollow in the mountain side, protected from the worst of the wind, and set slightly uphill so they had a better view of the surroundings. The fire was small but warm and emitted no smoke, and the hare Zack's chocobo had just seemed to pluck out of a hole in passing was on a spit and smelled delicious compared to the basic travel rations completing the meal.

Despite all that, Sephiroth was far from relaxed. For now Zack and Cloud seemed willing to grant him his silent brooding, but knowing both of them, it wouldn't last long. What would be said, what he would say, he did not know, though.

Cloud was with the chocobos, unsaddling and grooming his bird with a casual hand. It had been quite a shock when Sephiroth had first turned around and seen him. Cloud had grown older, true, but physically he had barely changed since that last encounter. His features were not over thirty, yet Sephiroth had made the effort of keeping track of time in the Lifestream from the moment Aerith had gotten to him. He should be looking much older.

In the end, it had been Cloud's eyes that had convinced Sephiroth it wasn't all just a sorry illusion meant to torment him. Bright from the mako running thicker than blood in his veins –no doubt at least part of the cause of this curious development, though he didn't know any SOLDIER that had ever lived beyond thirty to confirm his theory—they were deep and old and too filled with so many things to be just a figment of his imagination.

Zack plopped down beside him them, as unconcerned as if this was just another mission they happened to be taking together. He started foraging in a saddlebag, not even looking up at the one that had as good as killed him. His casualness baffled him completely.

"You hungry? That little fella won't be cooked in a while, but we've got some dry stuff you can munch on in the meantime," Zack proposed, finally excavating what looked like a squashed energy bar.

"Summons do not need to eat," he said carefully. Was he truly the only who felt the heavy weight of his past actions standing between them?

Zack snorted a laugh and tore the plastic wrapping open. "Nope, but don't worry, a couple of days of seeing Cloud eat and your body'll remember all about it, even if you don't need food. You might as well save yourself the trouble and start enjoying it now. Never let Cloud close to an oven if you want to keep your walls intact, but he sure can cook wild hare well. Why d'you think I taught Ullr to catch them like that?" Zack said impishly, grinning around a mouthful of energy bar.

Sephiroth could only blink, unable to relax. It could not be so easy.

Cloud arrived at that moment, turning the spit before settling on Zack's other side. He gave him an unimpressed look that wanted to be amused.

"Ullr just likes grabbing anything that's small and fast and runs under his beak."

"Not quite true, he doesn't grab kids when they flock around him."

There was definite amusement there. "You had to teach him that. The village of Skyle still won't let us in if he's around."

Zack laughed openly and threw his wrapper in the fire. "Eventually they'll all grow too old and forget about it."

Sephiroth was having trouble following the friendly banter between them. Time had not affected their relationship in the least; a casual touch of the arm, leaning closer to speak, it was all very obvious. Sephiroth felt the rift separating him from them, already impossibly wide, grow even larger.

For a moment he considered leaving. He could easily fade away, leave the both of them in peace for once and for all. Maybe if he did it while he slept, Cloud would forget to summon him back in the morning.

And then Zack threw an arm around his shoulders and leaned closer.

"Alright, boss, you win. I know better than to let you brood yourself crazy. Spit it out."

Sephiroth tensed and edged to the side just a little so he could see Zack better. He hadn't changed either, no more than Cloud. His eyes were smiling and understanding, waiting for an answer and ready to spin it on its head so Sephiroth would have no choice but to agree.

"Why?" he finally asked, drawing away. The contact was meant to be comforting, but Sephiroth felt a traitor accepting it.

Zack let him go, but the smile in his eyes was still there, unfazed. "Do you still hear voices in your head?"

Not for a long time. "No, but—"

"Then you've got your answer," Zack dismissed easily, waving his hand.

Sephiroth frowned, feeling himself grow angry. "It's not so simple. Zack, I would have killed you. You still ended up in Hojo's clutches."

The ex-SOLDIER-now-summon held his gaze steadily, his smile slipping away to be replaced by solemnity. "That's not so simple either, Seph. Don't forget Jenova. I blame her for everything, right along with that bastard Hojo and everyone who played god with you. They're finally gone, I certainly won't keep on brooding about it."

He shook his head. "It still shouldn't have happened. I should have resisted more."

"You didn't kill us," Cloud interrupted, looking at him with no trace of fear or resentment.

"Three times, Cloud," Sephiroth ground out, the words paining him even as memories reared their ugly heads. He could still taste the pleasure he'd taken in trying to take Cloud's life that last time, the sheer joy of slicing his blade through his flesh. It made his stomach turn. "My intentions were very clear."

Cloud was not so good at hiding the consequences of those events, it seemed, but it had none of the tension Sephiroth had expected. There were remnants of pain etched too deep to be forgotten, of an old betrayal, but none of it was aimed at him. It still hurt to see them.

"I don't think they were your intentions. Those voices can make you do what they want and make you believe you enjoy it," the blond replied evenly, quirking an ironic little smile that had a lot of the young Cloud in it. "I would know."

"I'm to blame for most of that as well," Sephiroth pointed out coldly.

"Not really," Zack interrupted, raising one finger. "If Jenova is responsible for fucking with your head –which she is—and implanting mad ideas like poking pointy metal sticks into us, then she's responsible for implanting the thought of implanting mad ideas into Cloud's head. You're just the poor helpless intermediary!"

Sephiroth wished Zack's logic could really be so simple. "I still listened to her, let her take control—"

"Hey, Seph, slow down there," Zack cut in, patient smile firmly in place. "Stop feeling guilty for everything. You had your genes fucked up with before you were even born and had an alien powerhouse mess up with your head. That makes you seriously outnumbered, so nobody can blame you for losing that battle."

"It was a battle I could not afford to lose. I almost obliterated this planet."

Zack snorted with humor. "I don't see you losing for anything smaller than that."

"Zack—"

"I know, be serious. I am, boss." Zack leaned closer again, and Sephiroth had to either stand his ground or fall off his rock. "Everybody makes mistakes and loses battles. Considering who you are, it's only normal that your losses are going to be bigger than average."

"I hurt you both," Sephiroth found himself whispering, voice uncontrollably hoarse. "I would have killed you, and in the end you both suffered so much."

His guilt, his remorse and pain, were laid bare and he could not look at them, could not bear to see accusations or hatred in their eyes. Instead he looked at the glowing embers of the fire, waiting for the judgment to fall. Surely even Zack, now forced to be a summon to live, couldn't just blithely forgive him after all this.

The silence stretched for just a few moments that felt like an eternity. It was finally broken by the creak of leather as Cloud leaned forward. From the edge of his vision, Sephiroth saw him check the hare before breaking off a leg. It was promptly thrust under his nose.

"It's pretty good," the blond boy assured him, settling in a squat beside him and just holding the meat while Sephiroth tried to understand what was going on. "Without you, I doubt I ever would've had the motivation or means to breed a chocobo that'd catch so many small animals for me to cook. I've had plenty of practice preparing them since Ullr came along."

Sephiroth had forgotten how to gape long ago. Instead he looked up and stared, absolutely surprised. Cloud was still holding the damn thing, waiting patiently for him to take it. Finally he did, but it was more to give himself something to do than for any desire to eat.

There was a muffled guffaw beside him and Sephiroth didn't have to look to know that Zack was biting down hard not to laugh aloud. In the end he still did, throwing his arm back across his shoulders and leaning heavily against him as his body shook with mirth.

"I fail to see what's so funny," he droned. He wondered how the conversation had gone from his admission of guilt to this, with no logical transition to connect them.

"All these years and Cloud still hasn't lost his touch. Give up now, Seph, you're never going to win," Zack chortled, snatching the hare leg from his still fingers and chomping down on it eagerly.

Sephiroth looked back at Cloud. He was wearing a long-suffering expression, but underneath it he was clearly proud. The general narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not in the habit of surrendering," he said, letting his voice dip low in slight threat. Zack tensed momentarily against him and suddenly Sephiroth remembered exactly what they had been discussing before it turned to this. Of course Zack would take it as a real and possibly lethal threat and react accordingly.

However, the hand that snaked down his side to settle on his hip before he could stand and move away and the warm breath that ghosted his neck, laughing and ticklish, did not appear threatened in the least.

"We'll see about that. Kid's grown some muscle, he'll give you a hard time if you try being stubborn," Zack stage-whispered, drawing a slightly offended exclamation from Cloud.

"Zack!" Cloud huffed, exasperated. He looked back at Sephiroth, who was finding it hard to ignore Zack's nuzzling of his neck. "What he means is to forget about feeling guilty about what happened. We don't blame you, and we're not going to let you torture yourself about it," he said decisively, turning very serious, but the mood was spoiled when Cloud reached over to pluck the half-eaten hare leg from Zack's now roaming hand with an apologetic grimace.

Indeed, it was rather hard to expect and fear their hatred when he had more or less a lapful of an affectionate Zack. He could not understand how they could brush it all off so easily and accept him so eagerly, but he was starting to believe that it was real and that they were not just tolerating him, but wanting him back, as well. It was a priceless gift he did not deserve but was too weak to refuse.

"Kid's right," Zack laughed against his skin. "Now that you're back, we're not letting you out of our sight. Not even for a second."

The hare leg was gone as Cloud rose and put his hands on Sephiroth's knees, leaning down so close that their faces were a mere few inches apart.

"Never again," Cloud hissed, intense and serious. His eyes glowed even more in the gloom, mako-bright. Sephiroth had seen it as an eternal sign of the damage he'd caused. He couldn't fathom the thought right now.

He'd also gut himself with the Masamune before letting anything happen to them. "Never again," he promised.