It's been a long while but we finally returned!

Ch.54

Cloud was pacing around in his bedroom, trying his best to think. It had been a few weeks since they had gotten back from their mission in Banora and Sephiroth hadn't once sent Cloud any messages about training or any other work. There had been nothing at all and it was making Cloud worry. It wasn't like Sephiroth to not say anything to him… there always had been something going on, but so far there was nothing.

But he didn't think to call or text Sephiroth. He didn't even think to go and find him wherever ever he could be. "Maybe he is just caught up with other work… or maybe he just doesn't care anymore…"

The knocking sound on his door made him nearly jump. "Huh? Who is it?"

"Who else would it be?" Zack replied before opening the door. "You've been in here all morning since breakfast. What gives?"

"Sephiroth hasn't given me any training or assignments since we got back… haven't even heard from him. I just don't know what's going on…"

"Well… it has been hard since we got back from Banora…" Zack said as he leaned against the door frame. "No word about Genesis or Angeal… it's driving me nuts!"

"I guess we are both just stuck with not knowing what to do…" Cloud sighed.

"Yeah, but we can't just stay up in our rooms all day. We need to do something!" Zack grabbed onto Cloud's arms and started pulling him out of the room. "And that means we are going to go and train and do some workouts."

Cloud let his brother pull him along with no resistances. Either way he did feel a bit better knowing that Zack was at least trying to do something to get their minds off the heavier subjects. Even if their mentors were there for them, Cloud knew that training was important after all. He had to keep that up anyways, especially if Sephiroth decided to turn around and come back wanting to train him more.

The two of them walked through Shinra headquarters and took the elevator until they reached the floor with the training rooms. Once they were in their own room Zack started by stretching his arms. "I was thinking we could just start with basic warm ups before we think to try any VR situations. Sounds good?"

Cloud nodded before snickering. "Yeah. Does this mean we can have a squat competition?"

There was a glint in Zack's eyes at those words. A sly grin crossed his face as he stepped closer to his brother. "Oh you are totally on! But you know it is going to be a lost cause, I am the champion of squats after all!"

"Sure thing. But I'll catch up to you one day. Maybe that day is today," Cloud smirked slyly.

"Ha! In your dreams. Come on Cloud, get ready!"

Weeks passed again and still there was nothing. No news had come in or anything and Cloud couldn't help but wonder endlessly. While Sephiroth still had not shown his face or given him any instructions, he still sought to train with Zack as much as he possibly could. After all, they were still SOLDIER.

Despite the lax in danger now, the mass desertion had still left a hole in Shinra's ranks that had yet to be filled. They still had various missions to attend to as the cleanup from the Wutai war continued. Many times they were assigned different tasks instead of being together, which they both expected usually anyways. It wasn't just physical work, but occasionally paperwork too. It all had become a big hassle.

Cloud was cleaning up after just arriving back from a mission himself now. As he was putting his things away, he felt his phone buzz inside of his pocket. Curious, he picked it up to see what it was; a message. When he started reading it, his eyes widened in shock. He threw everything down and ran out of the room.

"I gotta find Zack!" he thought to himself as he jogged to another part of the floor.

Luckily, he didn't have to travel very long as Zack was just coming up an elevator to the floor anyways. When the black-haired man stepped out, Cloud could see that he had his phone in his hand as well but was just staring at it.

"Zack…"

"I know, bro… I don't believe it. Not for one minute!" Zack frustratingly said.

"But it's official news from Shinra itself," Cloud tried to counter.

"Yeah, but doesn't mean I want to believe it! They can't be… they aren't dead."

"But why would Shinra lie?"

"I don't know, okay?! But I know it isn't true! They would have told me first, I was… I am Angeal's student after all," Zack huffed.

Cloud frowned. He could see that Zack was upset, and he wanted to help him feel better, but he wasn't exactly sure what to say. So instead of saying anything, he remained quiet. He bowed his head in uncertainty.

"There's gotta be a reason for this. I bet Sephiroth would know!" Zack proclaimed.

Cloud only slightly raised his head to Zack. "Yeah, but neither of us have seen or heard from him in ages…"

"You're right…" Zack trailed off in thought. "Well, no matter. He'll have to come back here at some point soon. I'll ask him then."

"I guess that makes sense. Zack, are you going to be okay?" Cloud asked with concern in his voice.

Zack flinched at the question, but then breathed in deeply, his chest rising and falling as slowly as he could make it.

"Yeah yeah, I'll be fine."

He tried to sound reassuring, but Cloud could hear the wavering bit in his tone. He knew well enough to know when Zack was clearly lying.

"Zack… you don't have to lie."

"What am I lying about? I said that I was fine, and that is all that it is. It just really stinks that is all."

Cloud started thinking of what he could say back to Zack. He only wanted to help him feel better as he could still see the distant look in his brother's eyes. But before he could say anything an elevator door opened. To the surprise of both boys, it was Sephiroth looking as serious as ever.

"There you are Cloud. I've been looking for you."

"Huh?" Cloud's eyes widened. "You have?" Quickly he went to check his phone, trying to see if he had accidentally missed any message from Sephiroth, but there was nothing there.

"Yes," Sephiroth answered sharply. "Come, we have some training exercises to go through."

Sephiroth turned around and began to walk down the hall to where the training rooms were. Cloud was about to ask why he would even have training since he just got back from a mission, but Sephiroth was already too far ahead. Cloud could only give a quick look to his brother, who in return looked understanding, before taking off to catch up with Sephiroth.

Cloud soon caught up to his mentor, but he barely even reacted to him being by his side. Sephiroth kept on walking forward, though he soon cleared his throat once they got to the training rooms. "We are going to run some of the higher level tests. Prepare yourself."

Moving forward Cloud stepped into the center of the room and put the VR gear on his head. Right away the simulation started and Cloud already knew that it was going to be challenging. Sephiroth had told him that much but once everything was loaded in he could already see the enemies that surrounded him.

While it did take longer than expected, Cloud did end pulling through with minor injuries. After that simulation was over, another started right away, barely giving Cloud anytime to breathe. But he kept on going. If Sephiroth wasn't telling him to stop, then he couldn't just turn around to ask him.

It did worry him though. While Sephiroth had pushed him through tough trails before, this felt far different. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't seen Sephiroth in a while and now he seemed so distant. It was like when he first started training under him, Sephiroth barely spoke and always seemed so direct with their training.

When the simulation was finally over, and no further scenario played out, Cloud carefully took off his helmet and looked at Sephiroth. "Um," he cleared his throat as he saw Sephiroth looking down at the screen. "Is that all?"

Sephiroth looked up quickly and met Cloud's gaze. "Yes, that will be all for today. You can return to what you were doing before."

Cloud nodded and started to head out of the room. But he stopped half way and faced Sephiroth once more. "Will there be more training anytime soon?"

"There will be. I will remember to forward you a schedule once I have it sorted out," Sephiroth said before turning away from Cloud. "That is all for today."

Sephiroth was out of the room before Cloud even gave a response. Now that he was left alone, Cloud let an exhale leave his chest. It just felt so odd from how Sephiroth was acting, but Cloud had a feeling at least what it could have been. He kept thinking it over and over, yet he didn't want to just assume anything.

When Cloud made it back to the apartment, Zack was already flopped on the couch, reading something on his phone. He seemed to be too caught up in reading at first, but after a moment he snapped his phone closed and sat up straight.

"Hey buddy, I was wondering when you'd get back. Everything go okay?"

Cloud walked over to the couch and prepared to take a seat next to Zack. He plopped down hard as he let out a long exhale from his mouth. "It was all right, I guess. Tiring. But also kinda weird."

"Kinda weird? Like how weird could training with Seph again be? It wasn't like before?"

"I don't know… It just felt off today," Cloud sighed. "He felt distant… like oddly distant or something."

Zack leaned forward more, head marred in thought. "I guess it must be over...well, you know…"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah I know…" After a breath he leaned against his brother who wrapped an arm around him. "Why do things gotta be so hard right now?"

"I don't know Cloud… they just are I guess."

"But what's going to happen now?"

Zack shrugged. "I guess we will keep moving forward, trying the best that we can. We aren't going to give up now are we?"

"I guess you're right. It's just… this isn't at all what I expected. When I dreamed of joining SOLDIER. When we did…" the blond trailed off with a somber tone.

It was hard to explain all of it, none of it felt right, but at the same time there was a strange other feeling that he had. A feeling that told him that things were the way they were, and it just felt right. But that made no sense to him. How could he know how something should be when it's only now just happening?

A sigh was heard next to him. "I know what you mean. To be honest, things haven't exactly been as 'good' as I thought they'd be either," Zack admitted. "But we still got each other."

"Yeah, that's good," Cloud replied with a nod.

As long as he had his brother by his side, he knew things would be okay. If they could just keep on sticking together, Cloud felt like everything could turn out alright in the end. It was a high hope maybe, but he could only imagine what was up on the horizon.

SO Important note! After this chapter, when Ch.55 goes up we will be 'ending' this story. Not the entire story, just this section. We decided that it would be better to put the series into parts rather than ending up with 200 chapters in one story in the end cause that would be a very long thing. So yes after the next chapter, we will make a new story as the next part of the series.